No More Birthday Gifts?

Posted on | May 4, 2008 | Comments Off

Been reading this article with interest today. Apparently, in some parts of the US there’s this new trend of NOT giving kids any birthday presents. In an effort to fight what they feel is being over-materialistic, some parents have taken to either donating their kids’ birthday gifts to charity or simply asking guests not to bring presents at all.

From the article:

The anticonsumerist children’s party takes a variety of forms. Some parents hold completely present-free parties. Others coordinate book swaps so every guest (and the birthday boy or girl) goes home with a book. Still others use the occasion to collect toys or canned goods for charity.

Now, let me state this: I too think we as a society have become too materialistic. I agree that there is a growing sense of “too much” toys for our kids, and let’s face it, for many parents as well. That said, I really think that making a point of not gifting your young child any gifts for her/his birthday is taking things a bit too far.

I am not an expert on child development, but I can tell you from personal experience, that doing this to a six-years-old child is way too early. The article discussed has a picture at the top of a girl of that age looking at her pile of unopened gifts which is going for charity. With all due respect to the parents, to me that seems too cruel. She is at an age where concepts of altruism may be budding but are far from being fully developed. Frankly, I don’t think she even understands yet that she’s about to be parted from those pretty shiny gifts of hers. I suspect there were some tears, not to mention anger tantrums, later on…

Later on, when a child is 10-12, well, maybe then you can consider such an arrangement. This could be an age, depending on the individual child, where a worthy cause can be explained and felt, and when a child might make a conscious choice to let go of her/his own possessions in lieu of the gift of giving.

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