It's the general phenomena of not knowing when "enough is enough." Even my soon to be 4 year old has expressed this thought, well, not in that exact phrase, but the intention was the same. We were unwrapping presents Christmas morning, the fire was lit, we had our fleece p.j.' s on and hot cocoa in hand, when 30 minutes in he proclaimed, "It's too much." He then proceeded to play with his 2 year old Lego set, in lieu of the brand new R/C toy or Spiderman emblazen football he had just unveiled. Yes, children get overwhelmed with "it all," but I like to think it was more social stance, then developmental appropriateness. Later that same day while being tucked in, my husband asked our son," Did you have a nice Christmas?" He replied, "No." Hubby: "Why not?" Response: "It was too much."
At this point you may think our child was overindulged, and compared to some, I would agree. But by and large I think most people buy much, much more for their children and typically spend more than out $50.00 self-imposed limit. Mind you, the Grandma & Grandpa's also send gifts, however, that included, I think we have a smaller-scale gift giving than many. My son's comment really was perfectly timed. What is the value of it all? I hope to instill in our child that Christmas is a celebration of Jesus' birth and what his life and death brings to all of us. We've said that we get presents because it's Jesus' birthday, and while the concept of Jesus is still incredibly abstract, I hope as he matures, he "gets it" and understands that "Having/Doing "it all" is indeed, "too much."
2 comments:
Kids have the darndest way of saying the right thing - so simply and so accurately.
"It's too much." He's right.
As parents, sometimes it's hard to hear our children's wisdom and act accordingly.
Great story. Thanks for the reminder.
h is quite the philosopher. i totally agree with him. i hope he tells lili!
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