I know many people say that the true meaning of Christmas has to do with Jesus and his birth...although I know in fact that it is impossible for Jesus to have born on December 25th because the weather described in the bible is not correct. It has been scientifically proven that it's not possible for Jesus (whether son of God or not) to have been born in the month of December. So in my house, that is not the meaning of the holiday. Chrismas in our house is all about giving to the ones we love, showing them that we care about them and that we know who they are as people. We share of ourselves, we give thoughtful and meaningful gifts, we show those we love that they are special to us. I try to let my son know that this attitude should be there all year long, but this time of year, Christmas time, is a time to really go all out and show our love for others. It's not about getting, it's about giving.
So every year I have Orion save some of his allowance to buy gifts for his grandparents, uncles, his dad and his teacher (if the school allows it). I don't really care if he gets me anything, it's ok if he really can't afford it, but I want him to know that him showing good will toward others is my Christmas gift because it shows me that I am doing it right. In years past he has bought jewelry for his grandmother...just little stuff that only a grandmother would love and then sweaters or something like that for his grandfather and his uncles. Then he usually gets his father a gift card to McDonalds because Daddy goes up north every weekend to snowboard and needs to eat on the way. This year was different!
This year he bought a really nice tea lite tray and a snowglobe for his grandmother because he knows she likes those kinds of things. For his grandfather he bought him a new tennis racket and tennis balls because Grampy loves to play tennis with his buddies every weekend in the summer. For his 2 uncles he got them each charging stations for their cell phones and i-pods because they need a place to put them where they won't lose them. And for daddy...he bought him a nice heated neck massager because his neck always hurts and my arthritis often makes it hard for me to massage him and he got him a season DVD of X-men because that's his favorite cartoon/comic book. He says he has plans for me but he's going to need daddy's help because he's a little short on cash and he doesn't want to buy it with me. All in all he saved up over $100 for his shopping and he was very thoughtful in picking each and every gift!
So a hearty pat on the back to me because I clearly am doing it right and my boy is a great thoughtful kid....even if I do say so myself!
2 comments:
Oh I always wonder what the heck I'm doing! LOL :)
Sounds to me like whatever you are doing is not only the right thing, but its sinking in and you are seeing it in action now.
Now if only I could convince Max to spend his allowance as wisely....
Well it helped me that last year when he was completing his Bear badge for cub scouts that a part of it was that he needed to open a savings account at a bank. He had $50 in his savings account and I periodically make him take some of his money and deposit it into the bank where he can't spend it and if he doesn't do it willingly I'll just deposit half his allowance for a few weeks for him and give him the remainder.
Second, when he started earning an allowance I took him to the store to pick out prizes instead of just giving him cash. Once he knew how much it cost he then had to work to earn it and once he earned enough I would take him to the store to buy it. It worked really well and tought him the value of a dollar and about living within your means. Now whenever he wants to buy anything he researches on the internet or asks me to take him to the store to price it out and then saves his allowance until he has enough. He's going to be the grown up with no credit card debt because he's going to have the habit of saving to buy instead of just getting stuff on credit. I refuse to prepurchase anything for him because he needs to learn that valuable lesson before he grows up!
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