Enough
Dec
Posted Saturday, December 26th 2009
at
3:33pm
26
Tagged:
A friend's child did not get everything he wanted for Christmas. My friend is a single mother with a limited budget, and she did what she could for her son. He is old enough to understand, sort of. But he's also young enough to still want more.
I'm not sure when we grow out of that stage, always wanting, but it sure is nice when we move on to the next phase. That place in life where we are so busy being appreciative of what we have that we forget to long for anything else. Where being "content" has less to do with compromise and more to do with gratitude.
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CHRISTMAS HAS BECOME SO COMMERCIALIZED. PARENTS STRESS AND FEEL BAD IF THEY DONT HAVE ENOUGH TO GIVE THEIR CHILDREN. WHO DEEMS WHAT IS ENOUGH? ALTHOUGH ALL THREE OF MY CHILDREN ARE NOW ADULTS; I BEGAN WHEN THEY WERE YOUNGER EXPLAINING CHRISTMAS IS NOT THEIR BIRTHDAY. IF MORE PARENTS WOULD TAKE THIS APPROACH THERE WOULD NOT BE SO MUCH SELF IMPOSSED STRESS. TELL YOUR CHILDREN THEY GET GIFTS ON THEIR DAY AND NOT ON SOMEONE ELSE'S BIRTHDAY
Well said, Amy.
I was watching one of those show segments where somebody thinks about the change in values we've gone through...you know, they do an album of black-and-white photos of kids in Dr. Denton's with the flaps in back on Christmas morn, horraying for a balsa-wood airplane...and they ended by saying that a recent survey showed overwhelmingly that children remember the EVENTS shared with family-- oddball or wonderful or hilarious, with the PEOPLE, and that the gifts are a blur, unless they were part of a people-centered narrative.
But it must be hard for moms now, when kids are hard-pressed to avoid the advertising and the hottest electronic gizmos. We adults are just as bad, wanting more recognition...
Happy New Year, all at HN
JBWYANKEE - Thanks for the reminder. I like what you stay about the importance of narrative.
I don't know if it means I am or was shallow as a kid, or what, but I actually do remember many of the gifts I received as a child. I suppose, because the gifts meant something to me. And meaning, I suppose, ultimately, is narrative.