Posts
With Christmas coming up rather quickly I have been thinking a lot about gift giving. My kids are always so excited to open their gifts Christmas morning but are not so excited when it comes to buying gifts for others. As a family we always adopt a family at Christmas time and we make sure that they have a nice Christmas. They enjoy doing this when its Mom and Dad's money but not so much when it's their own. So my question is what are some ways that I can help my kids understand that it feels just as good to give as it does to receive. I also would like them to earn some money to purchase the gifts too. Do we draw names within our family or do they buy something for everyone?
2 comments:
This is the first year that my kids (or at least one of them) "gets it" so I'm going to have her "earn" some money so that she can get a present for her brother for Christmas. I personally don't believe in drawing names...but maybe my opinion will change as my family grows bigger.
Otherwise, I think doing service as a family is great all year long but especially during the holiday season. The kids could help bake goodies and organize them on plates to give to friends and neighbors. Kids can also "help" wrap presents or help stamp christmas cards envelopes--to me those are all parts of giving at Christmas.
Older kids can get involved in service projects like "toys for tots" or another program that helps less fortunate families during the holidays.
Yikes... it's hard to teach kids to feel good! haha, that usually just has to come through experience.
I also have my kids "earn" money so they can get their siblings a present. So far they still enjoy picking something out for each other... maybe it's because they know each of them is picking something out for them in return! :)
We even let them pick out presents for their grandparents and autns/uncles from the dollar spot and they love that. Maybe it's an age thing. My kids are still pretty young.
We also don't draw names. My mom's family does that and I know it saves money and time but it always seemed impersonal. So in my family I always gave all my sisters (i only have sisters) a present and we still do that. And now that's what we do in our family. It's never anything big, just something to show each other you were thinking of them.
Good luck! It always helps to see the person's face when they open the present. Knowing you made someone happy usually makes you happy in return.
Post a Comment