PEARL 20

Giving Gifts

What can be more fulfilling than giving our children gifts? But giving a

gift provides much more opportunity than simply the fact that a new toy
provides our children joy. Most of us stress the importance of teaching
our children the real meaning of the holidays and how the decorations,
tinsel, and gifts are not really what a holiday may signify. But our
children’s little brains are still often screaming, “What did you get me?”
or “What did you bring me?” along with, “Hers is bigger than mine!” or
“You got him more!” And the parents often wonder, Can I get Trey one
without getting Jason one too? Or one parent will say to the other,
“Honey, don’t you think we’ve bought the kids enough?”
Many parents rain gifts on their kids. In too many homes, opening gifts
is a self-indulgent party in which the child rips the paper off one present,
looks at the present briefly, and then goes on a hunting trip for another
present to rip open.
There are some Love and Logic guidelines of giving presents that wise
parents follow:

Guideline One: If your child shows little appreciation for gifts, give
less.

If your kid is bored, unappreciative, or not pleasantly responsive when
receiving a gift, there is a good chance you are raising an entitled brat.
Your child is simply getting and expecting too much.
The old Christmas song warned kids of yore, “Better not pout, better
not cry,” for Santa checked his list twice for children who were “naughty