Everyone sees the holidays as a time of gift giving and
spreading Christmas cheer, recently in the UK the gifts that are expected at
Christmas are getting bigger and bigger and the amount of unappreciative
children that complain that they have not received what they wanted it becoming
ridiculous! Being 18, I don’t expect large amount from my family, and honestly
I don’t think I ever have. Of course every child knows that Christmas means
presents, which means toys, which means stuff to play with. But even from a
young age I always use to appreciate the smaller more thought out items more
than the larger gifts because I knew the thought had gone into it.
Now, I volunteer at a local brownie group and we meet every
week. I have been doing this for two years and have got to know the girls very
well and have a strong bond with each and every one of them. The age of these
girls ranges from 7 to 11 before they go off to guides, so they are still young
enough to be playing with Barbie Dolls and completing puzzles (which is what I
did at their age). But last week I was talking to some of the girls and we were
discussing what they had asked their parents for this Christmas. Some of the
responses shocked me.
One girl said they had asked for an iPhone 6, ARE YOU
SERIOUS, I am 18, pay my own phone bill, and not even I have a phone of that
price! Another said they asked for a Microsoft Tablet, THIS IS RIDICULOUS, I
saved up with a part time job at the age of 16 and 17 to buy my own tablet and
it took me over a year! Children expect way to much during the holidays and I
feel there needs to be a certain point were a present becomes too much!
I don’t know this is happening all around the world but it
is definitely happening all over the UK, what happened to the years when you
would wake up at 6am on Christmas Morning, run downstairs to see if Santa Clause
has been and get excited when you unwrap some sort of ‘Create Your Own’ kit or
a new action figure (because I loved Dr Who).
Parents don’t have the joy of sitting around for 12 hours playing
with their children’s toys with them because their child received a piece of technology
that is more advanced than what they have. The only reason I got annoyed at my
parents on Christmas Day was because they did not have the correct size battery
for my light saber (yes I also liked starwars), not because I got the iPhone 6
in black and not white.
During the Christmas holidays be appreciative of everything
you receive, because you don’t know how much time and effort goes into a gift
and it can really hurt someone’s feelings if you do not like it. Even if it isn’t
something you asked for, at least your parents went out of their way to buy you
a gift.
One final point I want to make is, if you are in high school
and you go back after the Christmas Break and someone in your class got a lot
of gifts, that where of high quality, but you didn’t get as much as them and it
was not as good. Stop and think for a minute, yes maybe their parents spent £500
on them, but they earn a lot of money, £500 isn’t much. Your parents could have
only spent £50 but that was the only £50 they had and they chose to spend it on
you rather than themselves because they didn’t want to see you suffer!
Hopefully this blog post has made you think, and although
Christmas is seen as a time for giving, think about what you are receiving.
This shouldn’t just apply during the holidays, everyone should be grateful
about receiving gifts all year round!
Merry Christmas!
Stay Strong <3
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