The Gift of Time
December 22nd 2006 05:56
In my last piece, I wrote about practical gifts that can be practically used by your child. There’s one other key to understand, particularly in a small family. With many gifts, you’re giving something besides money, you’re implying a promise of time.
If you buy a child a board game, you should be willing to sit down and play it. You’ve in effect committed to that when you bought the present. Yes, if you’ve got more than one child they can play together, but there’s nothing like mom or dad joining the fray.
It’s one way to insure a game like Monopoly lasts, by actually taking time to teach them how to take care of it. As a parent, you’ve got a great opportunity to help your child enjoy his toys (and also save yourself some money on next year’s toys) by teaching them how to do it. If a present is going to require you and you don’t have the time to play with it with your child, don’t buy it.
Speaking as a grown up child, let me tell you the most important gifts my parents gave me, never came in the boxes, it never all wrapped up with pretty paper. It never came in the biggest, most ostentatious gift I received, it came afterwards, when my dad would sit down and play the game with me.
If you buy presents that take time with your kids, it’s an incredible sacrifice, but at the same time, an incredible bargain for both you and your child.
Have a Merry Christmas.
If you buy a child a board game, you should be willing to sit down and play it. You’ve in effect committed to that when you bought the present. Yes, if you’ve got more than one child they can play together, but there’s nothing like mom or dad joining the fray.
It’s one way to insure a game like Monopoly lasts, by actually taking time to teach them how to take care of it. As a parent, you’ve got a great opportunity to help your child enjoy his toys (and also save yourself some money on next year’s toys) by teaching them how to do it. If a present is going to require you and you don’t have the time to play with it with your child, don’t buy it.
Speaking as a grown up child, let me tell you the most important gifts my parents gave me, never came in the boxes, it never all wrapped up with pretty paper. It never came in the biggest, most ostentatious gift I received, it came afterwards, when my dad would sit down and play the game with me.
If you buy presents that take time with your kids, it’s an incredible sacrifice, but at the same time, an incredible bargain for both you and your child.
Have a Merry Christmas.
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