Come fly with me: Kids who have it all

I'm standing with the largest aquarium in the world on my right and the largest candy store in the world to my left. It seems normal now that I come to Dubai so often. But to actually think that these two superlative things are situated opposite each other in Dubai Mall, the largest mall in the world, well, it is of some noteworthiness.

I wondered for a moment how amazing it would have been to have all this at my doorstep as a child, to have all this glitter, all these things literally made for kids, all this razzmatazz just outside my house.

What a different world. Taking the train, walking to a school in Central London at 7am, returning home at 5pm — even that was fun. Tiring but fun.

But living in Dubai, things would have been different. And yet, in hindsight, having all these things available might have been awful. How would I have ever appreciated anything had this been the norm when I was a child? Living in a big city such as London was a privilege but to think that some children in Dubai today have spa parties at the age of 5, go mall-hopping on weekends and have practically everything at their fingertips, is a bit disconcerting!

It's all relative, I guess. Someone who came to London and saw I was often dropped to school, my dinner was ready when I reached home and that I got tuitions on weekends may have deemed me spoilt. But for me, pedicures and massages for children are preposterous.

There is, of course, the flip side — that the upbringing of a child will determine the outcome, and today parents are able to give their kids the necessary exposure to other countries, to the plight of people in the developing world, to the value of money.

Parents, if they care enough, can influence children the right way. When we have money, it is important to deprive — and I use that word with discretion — allowing them to understand the value of an iPod or a mobile phone. But today, even when we don't have money, we want to spoil our kids.

So how will buying one lip balm on a little girl's birthday from Candylicious be enough as a birthday gift? It might have been when I was a girl.