Gift Overload — Avoiding Spoiled Kids
- December 28, 2016
- by Melissa Lawrence
Hi everybody! Hope your holiday season has been great. If you are like me, you worry about getting spoiled kids, kids who take things for granted and feel entitled! Sound familiar?
To me, one remedy for being spoiled is being aware of those who have less. We all can tend to focus on material things we might like, but being aware of how generally lucky we are surely takes some of the luster away of those sparkly items.
I’ve worried for a while about my kids having too much stuff and a generally too cushy life, so in recent years Marc and I have been trying to come up with positive parenting solutions for giving less. Today’s video includes some reflections on how we’ve tried to handle this issue.
For starters, when it comes to the holidays, we try to limit the gifts for our kids, giving one larger fun gift, one practical gift like a shirt or long underwear, and then something educational like a book. When it comes to birthday parties (we recently had one for our youngest Marielle) we extend the “opening” process having the child open one gift per day so that they can appreciate it, and making sure they write a thank you note. I also try to encourage my kids to give away a gift when they have gotten a few at a party, either to a sibling or to charity. These are small gestures but I hope they go towards raising children who are self-aware, grateful, and thinking about others.
For more tips, watch today’s video. And please weigh in telling me how your family handles this issue.
Thanks for watching and Happy New Year!
Melissa
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