When the Christmas Gifts We Chose Were not a Hit
Gifts not a hit
One Christmas we chose gifts that were not a hit. We had three boys under 6 and it was time to buy Christmas gifts. How happy we were when we found three yellow, metal Tonka trucks. Perfect gifts, we thought. There will be no fighting over who gets to play with which vehicle. They can all play together, and they’ll have a blast.
We failed to consider the interests of our boys. We thought more of the decreased hassle we would deal with than considering what our boys would enjoy best. [I’m not saying we must always negate what helps us just to give a kid what he wants.]
While our boys enjoyed their trucks and (even then) expressed appreciation and excitement over the gifts, we found out later we had messed up. Oh, I only found out a year later, when it was time to shop for Christmas gifts.
One son informed me, ‘I certainly hope this year we won’t all get the same thing!”
“Oh?” I asked. “You didn’t like your gifts last year?”
“Well,” he drawled out, “They were o-kaaay, but it was sooo boring!”
“You have had a lot of fun playing with those trucks!” I told him.
“WELL, but if they were different, it would be sooo much more fun! You can only do the same thing with the same trucks. We could have had different trucks or tractors or things that did different things instead of just the same thing all the time. That would be sooo much more fun!”
Well now. I got the message. That year, we made sure they did not get identical gifts. We made certain they had different things to add to their toy stash. They were happy, and so were we.
I remember
Every time I see a yellow Tonka truck, I remember. ‘Funny the things we remember when we look back on raising kids. I still think that when it comes to raising kids and having toys, less is more. Yet this time, less choices of trucks were not a hit. The same amount of trucks, but different trucks, would have been a better choice.
You live and learn – and keep learning in parenting, that’s for sure.
Photo credit: Pixabay.com
