Are you the type to go on a wild spending spree for the holidays then get a whopping credit card bill in January? I swear this happens to me every year. The trap I fall into is second-guessing my initial round of purchases. I worry I didn’t get enough, and do another round.
If you’re like me, this parenting tip might save you money!
Maggie Dent, a parenting expert in Australia, suggests we shouldn’t get our kids too many gifts for Christmas! She says too much can limit a child’s creativity and gets them addicted to “stuff”. Her fix? Get your child one big gift and then gift experiences, like a trip to California’s Great America.
I know first hand the downfall of too many presents. The Christmas my daughter Annabelle was 4, we got her a little shopping cart that came with little plastic food in it. We wrapped a big bow around it and when she saw it under the tree she went absolutely crazy for that shopping cart. She was so excited about looking at all the food, wanting to push it around, and we realized oh man we still have a bunch of unopened presents!
So she opened all the other gifts we had gotten her, her grandparents, and everybody else had sent her, and by the time it was all over we had a child who was totally overwhelmed and not even interested in her shopping cart anymore. My husband and I realized we gave her too much stuff. Maybe if you can’t resist, or you have an abundance of presents from other relatives for your kids, what if you don’t give everything at once? This is where Hanukkah and Kwanzaa are smart- they’re spread over multiple days.
Studies show kids play with at most 20 toys anyway!
Do you buy your kids a lot of toys for the holidays? Do you think you could adopt the one-present tradition? What would be the one gift you would get them??
Photo Credit: Getty
Source: The Sun