I was talking to a colleague, Amy, yesterday. She mentioned that she does not buy her two children (boys--aged 8 or so and 3???) Christmas gifts. She said, "We give $500.00 to charity each year and I send all the standard recipients (teachers,for instance) a note describing the charity."
WOW! I always think I am such a free-thinking, free-spirited, unconventional person. I guess not.
Here's what's interesting. She went on to say that her kids didn't mind. That they had tons of toys, all gifts from family and hand-me-downs from friends. AND THAT THEY STILL HAD TOO MUCH.
I opined that many material desires expressed by children are implanted by the parents. My colleague agreed. My children rarely asked for the latest toy, for instance. As I've said before, they would go to the homes of their friends to play with the "popular" toys, while the friends would come to our house and play with what we had. No complaints from anyone.
But NO HOLIDAY gifts for kids! What a concept! Amy Dacyczyn of Tightwad Gazette fame wrote about how she gave each of her six children a few new items each holiday accompanied by a few stashed yard sale finds. She wrote about how some people wrote accusing her of child abuse: kids deserve new toys, they said.
What do you think of my iconocalstic colleague's decision? And what about Amy Dacyczyn (pronounced decision)?
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