Parents are spending more and more money each year on Christmas gifts for their kids, the reasons for this are many. One reason is that parents seem to have more money now than parents did 20 or 40 years ago. This may not actually be due to parents having more money, but rather, in many cases, a result of the growing trend to buy on credit. 20 and 40 years ago, parents had mortgages on their houses, but today most adults have thousands of dollars of credit card debt in addition to having a mortgage on their house.
So while in some cases, 21st century parents do actually have more money, in many cases it is simply a difference in philosophy. Buying Christmas gifts for the kids is certainly a cause worthy of a little credit card debt.
Another reason for the increase in spending on gifts for kids at Christmas is the change in the type of popular toys; 25 years ago, toys did not walk or talk, and they certainly did not get popped into a video game machine and get played on a screen. Today, not only is the platform for video games expensive, but buying each individual game costs a small fortune as well---and, lets face it, they dont fill up the area under the tree very well! My question is this: If we are going to spend so much money on Christmas gifts for the kids, should not they have an additional benefit than just being entertaining? How about toys that promote learning?
Thought-Provoking Toys
So maybe your child would not be very impressed with a cd-rom with math games on it as a Christmas gift. Just because its a cd does not mean that kids will like it. some kids will enjoy Christmas gifts for learning such as the math cd, but many others will just find it dorky.
How about books? Many kids dont like books, but if you know what they are interested in, and I mean, what they are REALLY interested in, you can encourage them to read by giving them books on that topic. Another idea, for the video-games-only generation is to buy the kids comics or strategy books. If you have a young child who has not learned to read yet because he is always in front of the video game screen, this is a terrific option.
Puzzles are another good idea. A 3-D map of the world puzzle is a great learning device, but does not seem like one. Try also science experiment kits or how-to science experiment books. The key is to encourage inquisitiveness and mental action. We all know that this generations thumbs are well trained, this Christmas lets look a little deeper when picking out Christmas gifts for the kids. Your kids will benefit and you will feel better about dropping hundreds and hundreds of dollars consider it an investment in your childs future.
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