As we enter the gift giving season, we inevitably come up to the challenge of raising responsible little humans amidst a barrage of advertising, purchasing, and giving of and receiving material goods.
For many it’s a tricky season to navigate, and just as with most everything I believe that a little intention goes a long way.
I want my kids to participate in the joy of giving gifts and receiving gifts. Gift giving is a legitimate love language and often one that gets viewed negatively if it’s not in your top love languages mix.
But gift givers love to express love through a thoughtful gift and they love getting something that shows you’ve thought about them.
On the flip side, I do not want my kids overrun with gifts that they won’t use or for them to develop an unhealthy sense of entitlement and expectation. It’s tricky.
One thing we often say in our home is “You can’t have it all.” We are constantly reinforcing our kids (not in a negative way) that it’s not realistic to always have everything you want in the moment.
Even if you had the resources to achieve that, I don’t think the resulting character would be a healthy one.
We are consistently helping them navigate the ability to make choices about things they want and to put thought into their requests and purchases. You can pick on treat or the other but not both, etc.
When we are at a store, even if they have their own money in their spend jar, we enforce a two-day consideration. If they still really want it in two days, we’ll go back to buy it. This helps them learn to not impulse buy and waste their money.
One of the most important life skills we can facilitate in our kids is the ability to delay gratification. It will serve them well in literally most every area of their life – finances, relationships, eating habits, etc.
When we build space in to wait for items, to choose their priorities, and to not get everything we are actually setting them up for success.
