• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Are Those Your Kids

Raising Biracial Kids in Today's World

  • Home
  • About Diedre
    • Contact Me
    • Privacy Policy
  • Multiracial Resources
    • Curly Hair Care
    • Motherhood
      • Facebook Group
      • Motherhood Series
    • Marriage
    • Parenting
  • Featured On
  • Shop

Why My Kids Won’t Have Tons of Presents Under the Tree

November 28, 2017 By Diedre Leave a Comment

 

Instead of indulging yourself and your children with presents they don't need this year, consider giving back and being a part of #givingtuesday.

This Christmas, my husband and I are scaling back. Our kids WILL NOT have tons of presents under the tree.

We currently have 6 & 4 year old girls, and a sweet baby boy on the way. In Christmases past, our celebrations were typical of most American families. Our children had more presents than they could remember or play with at one time.

What I noticed is that they became less grateful when they got new things.

And embarrassingly, once my mom brought the girls a few gifts on a non holiday. After looking at a book or two, my oldest tossed them to the side and said, “Grammy, what else did you bring me?”

I was absolutely mortified. I never envisioned that I would raise an ungrateful child. At that moment, I realized that I had to do something different. Especially on #GivingTuesday, a day set aside to help others through the gift of your time, donations, goods or your voice.

Here’s how my husband and I are raising grateful children and scaling back this season:

We Realize That It’s Not About Us

I love having daughters. Some days it’s almost like reliving my childhood. Birthdays and other holidays are the perfect opportunity to get them things that I wanted as a child, or would have wanted as a child.

But this can be dangerous. Gifting my children with things that I would want makes the gift giving more about me than them.

Instead of indulging yourself and your children with presents they don't need this year, consider giving back and being a part of #givingtuesday.

We’re Teaching Our Children How to Clean

Do you have any idea how difficult it is to teach kids to clean up after themselves?

Just give them a playroom full of toys (with a million pieces) and see what happens. If this describes your house, then you know exactly what I mean.

If we keep adding more toys  & presents on top of ones they already have, it makes it difficult to stay organized and finding a place for new toys feels like an impossible feat.

We Want to Raise Grateful Children

I know I’m guilty of gifting my children with presents all year round. How can they possibly have anything to look forward to, or be grateful for if they never have to earn anything and are always receiving gifts?

I always said that I wanted to raise respectful (non bratty) children, so that means that I have to teach them how to be grateful–and sometimes that means saying no on a day to day basis.

Instead of indulging yourself and your children with presents they don't need this year, consider giving back and being a part of #givingtuesday.

We Want to Teach Them To Give Back

When we teach our kids to give back, the focus immediately shifts from them, to helping others. There are so many ways to give back, especially this holiday season.

As a child, I always participated in Operation Christmas Child. It was a joy to choose a child and fill their shoe box with small gifts.

As an adult, one of my favorite projects that connects directly to my community is picking an angel from the angel tree and providing them with presents on their wish list. In years past, I picked one from my school’s tree. As a school counselor, I loved knowing that my contribution was directly going to a family in my school.

This year, I’m participating in angel tree again, and my family’s contribution will benefit a child in my community–and possibly even my school.

Instead of indulging yourself and your children with presents they don't need this year, consider giving back and being a part of #givingtuesday.

Giving Back Doesn’t Have to Be Just For the Holiday Season

There are so many charities that make themselves accessible during the holidays that people feel compelled to contribute.

But what about during the year?

Many schools participate in the Backpack Buddy program. These programs provide needy families of school aged children with nonperishable snacks & weekend meal items.

Consider making a donation of canned goods & other snacks to a school in your community. You can also supply them with school supplies such as glue, notebooks, pencils,paper, etc.

Is there a food bank in your community? Consider volunteering to help them restock and organize shelves. If you are a club/community service sponsor, this would be a great service project idea for your group.

Is there a local shelter that could use some donations?

This year, consider being a part of something bigger than yourself. November 28th has been dubbed #GivingTuesday. Need more ideas about how to get involved? Click here for 100 Unique Fundraising Ideas.

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Email
  • More
  • Share on Tumblr
+1
Share3
Tweet
Share
Pin3
6 Shares

Filed Under: Parenting

Previous Post: « 4 Ways Parenting Makes You A Master At Multitasking
Next Post: How to Talk to Your (Young) Biracial Child About Skin Color »

Reader Interactions

Daily Boutique Deals
Baby K'tan Baby Carriers and Baby Wraps

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Diedre Anthony
Lifestyle + Mom Blogger
Welcome to Are Those Your Kids! This blog was created to share my experiences in motherhood, from the perspective of a mom with biracial kids. I discuss all things culture, multicultural resources, curly hair and motherhood.

Get Connected

  • Bloglovin
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • StumbleUpon
  • Twitter

Are Those Your Kids FB Group

Are Those Your Kids FB Group

The Frustration-Free Guide to Curly Hair E-book

Are you at a loss when it comes to curly hair? Does wash day make you cringe? Check out this e-book for a guide to all things curly hair care.

Keep up with Diedre via email

Want to learn more about being in an interracial marriage and raising biracial children? How about curly hair care tips? Even if you are not in a multiracial family, I can guarantee that you will love my posts about motherhood and parenting. Enter your email below to subscribe!

Categories

  • Curly Hair Care
  • Marriage
  • Motherhood
  • Motherhood Series
  • Oils
  • Parenting
  • Pregnancy & Baby
  • Reviews
  • Teenagers
  • Toddlers
  • Uncategorized

Recent Posts

  • 4 Simple Tricks for Managing & Styling Wavy Curly Hair
  • 5 Easy Hairstyles for Girls With Naturally Curly Hair
  • How to Jump Start Your Wellness Journey with Essential Oils
  • 6 Meaningful Ways to Make Your Marriage Stronger
  • 7 Quick Tips to Help Moms Increase Breast Milk Production
Gymboree Sale On Now!

Popular Posts

Parenting biracial daughters comes with a unique set of challenges. People often question their identity based on their physical appearance.
Multiracial families are often suseptible to others biases based on their physical appearance. There is so much more to us than meets the eye.

3 Common Misconceptions About Multiracial Families

Web Hosting

As Featured On

As Featured On
Gymboree Sale On Now!

Footer

Baby K'tan Active Baby Carrier

Copyright © 2019 · Site by Pretty Pink Studio

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.