Values and Christmas

[yola]

Dominik has PCs at school and there is an expectation that he has access to some kind of IT facility at home. We have drawing programmes and occasionally he will play on Cbeebies. I have to say, it's very intuitive in his usage of the PC, he has excellent mouse control

But as far as a television in his room goes; no way! All his TV time is supervised and he's not yet able to change channels - which is a good thing.

I don't have a playstation or any such thing, and will resist it for as long as possible with the boys (hopefully early teens), as I really think they are a waste of money - many will argue with me but hey-ho!

Once they are earning their own money, or if they wish to save up for electronic gadgets then so be it, they will be free to do so, but not under the age of 11!!!

[Jac]

Yola were the same here now the boys are away from home. No play station or the likes.
Ceilidh has games for the PC but they are fun and educational. She would much prefer to play in her room using her emagination, getting lost in her own wee world. It's great to eaves drop on her .

when the boys were both old enough, they got paper rounds. If they wanted something "extra" I would make them save half the cost. Once they had that I would pay the other half. I found it worked, plus they got the satisfaction of working towards something. Mind you my boys are now 24 and 16

[alexgirl73]

Very interesting thread this lol.  I think I differ a wee bit from others in this respect. In my house there is very little, to no  spare money for treats throughout the year, so my girls only really get new things at Christmas and their birthdays. The rest of the year it's the odd thing from the charity shop/car boot sale etc. Both my girls have tv and videos in their bedrooms, but until last year were only allowed to actually watch their vast collection of videos on them. I didn't have their tvs tuned in to pick up signals. I decided to let them have them tuned in because they were basically sick to death of watching the same things over and over again lol. Hayley only get her tv last year after a lot of talk about it, because she and Raechel have very different viewing tastes and it was making the Hayley 'situation' worse. They have an old original playstation in Hayleys room but very rarely use it tbh. They do however love their DS (Raechel) and GB (Hayley) and as it was bought for Hayley as a concentration tool I dont feel guilty about it lol. Hayley finds it very difficult to engage in imagination play and doesn't really play with her many toys (even though we have tried and tried with her). We do play board games occasionally, but again this becomes fraught with tension as Hayley finds it hard to take turns and share. So to try and work on that this year, Santas main gift (and I always get them one each year) is one the 2 girls have to share. A multi game table with football and chess and basketball etc (15 games in 1). To encourage sisterly love lol. The rest of their pressies are lucky to come to about £50 each. I buy from July onwards in the sales and pick up bargains.Raechel still semi believes in Santa (she's 11). But she's not a greedy girl at all, and hasn't really asked for anything this year, and to be fair neither has Hayley really. My 2 dont ask for things during the year as they know the money isnt there, but I do try to spoil them a little bit at Christmas.

[Donna]

Similar situations Alex!

Mine get nothing throughout the year.. and I feel I have over compensated for the break up of my marriage. I moved into my house with nothing but clothes so I wanted to make the children's bedrooms as fun as possible....

It has taken five years to get where I am today with the house and feel I have given them everything they will need.

Now this year, I am only buying them a few small presents each and they have even said they dont want a lot cos money is tight and they have everything they need.

[alexgirl73]

I know my 2 would be happy with just a few presents to open but as you say, we tend to overcompensate at this time of year! I dont buy big label clothes (unless you count primark or george lol), and their tvs and things are from makes you've never heard of lol. But I feel guilty because I'm not able to give my girls things that a lot of kids take for granted, so I like to make Christmas that little bit special. I save up my cash back from my catalogue during the year, and thats where the main present comes from and the rest is paid by provident lol!

[Moli]

When I was young, my parents had 7 of us, and my dad used to make a lot of our presents, one year a dolls house, the next a wendyhouse, very seldom did my parents buy anything ready made....and we only got presents at xmas and birthdays....
Now my two are older, they get one big present each, something they need as well as want and a few smaller bits and pieces....

[Grete]

My parents split up when I was 11 and from then, money was *extremely* tight. My mum gave me and my sister what she could and we loved her for it.

We were probably ungrateful little brats from time to time but we grew up knowing the value of things and most of the presents we received at christmas were small but well thought out and ever since I have always loved presents that were from the heart rather than from the wallet.

[CathyW]

im so glad my lot are all grown up n left home.and at the moment due to a pair of daughters who need a dose of growing up they are getting nothing off me im afraid. they cant have the *i dont want nothing to do with u* attitude, then wait with their grabbing hands for what ever we are giving them.
so christmas this years going to be a light year. plus we are moving 2 weeks b4 christmas. so moneys going to be tight.
but even when they where young mine got what ever i could afford.

[Darky]

I'm only 19, so when I was a kid, most other kids also had insane amounts of things. I was used to kids telling me what expensive things they got for Christmas, and oh they got £150-300 birthday money, and I thought it was mad.

I grew up with modest presents, and honestly just enjoyed the good feelings at Christmas time. Getting to decorate the tree and eat my Mum's fabulous food was just as good, if not better, than receiving presents.

I do think that some children are very spoilt, and it annoys me when parents then complain about their child's behaviour - when all they do is try to buy their love, then let them get on with it.

I'm old enough to buy my own things now, and that keeps me happy, but I absolutely love buying or making things for other people.

My parents could not afford much when I was growing up, and still can't, and that has always been fine for me.

I was, however, raised a geek. XD We've always had computers in our house, it's just something that is a big part of all of our lives. So I was a kid who was internet-savvy and computer literate.

[dandysmom]

I was a Depression baby, so money was sort of tight when I was growing up; although fortunately my Dad never lost his government job. I never had what you would call expensive presents, but did get lots and lots of books, and as I was and still am a bookworm, that was a real treat! And as Darky said, the fun of the tree and my mom's wonderful cooking made Christmas a delightful time....