Pre-School and Daycare
74dragonfly
member
So spoiling?
74dragonfly
member
The post about spoiling at Christmas got me thinking about the rest of the year. Do you buy your kids toys at random times of the year. I do this a lot. The poster who said that spoiling is not just about Christmas made me think.
This discussion has been closed.
Re: So spoiling?
Only holidays/birthdays special occasions and obscure holidays I think of so I have a reason to get them things
But for the most part it's just birthdays/holidays.
This is just my reasoning, I feel kids need to know they can't have everything they want when they want it.
However, things like books/crayons for most part I will get often/ as needed
Yes and no. DD#1 is reading and learning so much so whenever I'm out, I will absolutely pick up a book or two if I find one she'd like- Power Ranger Samurai readers are HARD to come by, btw.
With DS, I have gotten in the habit of picking up things every so often to help with his motor issues. Toys and fun things work far better than therapeutic OT bands or equipment that he needs.
And the other day, a field trip they'd been looking forward to all month- built up at home and at school- got cancelled. They were crushed. They don't understand why and they handled it so nicely (as can be expected of 3 and 4 yr olds). So I piled them in the car and we went out to lunch and stopped at CVS so they could get a treat...
They have too much. I'm the first to admit it. BUT I can do an hour long grocery run woith them without any acting up or begging. We can walk through TRU to get a present for someone without any issues. I can tell them "yeah that does look fun, doesn't it!" and walk on without a complaint. So yeah, they're spoiled. Rotten if you walk through the house. But "spoiling" means going bad, and I don't think my kids are doing that at all. My neighbor's kiddo the opposite. It's a grown up house. He has few toys because he's in day care or german class or Gymboree, or Music together. And he is spoiled. He is whiny when he asks for stuff, whiny if he gets, and downright mean when he doesn't. I don't think "stuff" is what spoils kids.
This. Plus DS gets so much at Christmas birthday that I put a bunch of toys away and give them to him throughout the year when he is bored with his current toys. He never asks for anything and we can walk through the toy section and he looks but never asks.
I buy books, coloring books, crayons, art supplies, etc... all year round. Other smallish ($10-15) toys are sometimes earned. We use sticker charts to work on some behaviors and the reward for completing a sticker chart might be a toy. Other than that, holidays and birthdays are the only times they really get toys from us. Sometimes grandmothers and aunts buy them or bring them presents at other times throughout the year.
DS's b-day is right after Christmas, so he usually gets a couple surprises from us during the summer. It's nothing we plan, but if we see something we know he will love, we might go ahead and get and give it to him. For example, he got to pick out a super hero outfit for his stuffed animal, when Build-a-Bear had the Marvel super hero costumes. DH came across a bunch of Marvel Hero Squad action figures, and surprised DS with them one day. Sometimes we let him pick out a match box car at the store just because. He was sick one weekend and I bought him a new book. I brought home three new books this weekend that I picked up at the library book sale.
I guess we spoil a bit.
My Blog
