Toys don’t bring joy

Money is tight this holiday season, and I’m afraid my children are going to be disappointed when they don’t get everything they have asked for. What’s the best way to deal with this?

It’s an understatement to say that the holidays can be stressful instead of joyful. Children are not immune to that stress, particularly when it comes to their holiday wishes, and the disappointment they may experience over not having those wishes fulfilled.

The best way to handle the situation is to take the disappointment that children may experience when they don’t get everything they want and gently use it to teach an important lesson. The message children can learn from their disappointment is that the value that we place on material goods often overshadows what the holidays are really about: family, friends, and feasts!

Children may focus on what they did not get as opposed to the toys and gifts they did receive. (This can be particularly true when it comes to the latest toy on the market, which turns out to be either unavailable come December, or far too expensive.)

However, if they realize that their greatest wish is something beyond a specific toy or present, then they will be disappointment-proof. Parents have to set a good example, which means getting out of a materialistic mindset themselves.

In order to teach a child that the holidays have importance outside of gifts, parents should focus on the value of relationships with loved ones. Children learn a lot from interacting with a network of supportive family and friends. Emphasize that this is what the holidays are truly about.

Creating family traditions is a way to take the focus away from purchased material goods. Parents can spend time with their children cooking, playing an annual holiday game, or making homemade presents together. Some ideas for low-cost, enjoyable family activities outside of the house can include ice-skating with cousins, drinking hot cocoa from thermoses with friends in the park, or making snow angels.

Other ways to make the holidays meaningful might be volunteering your family’s time at a soup kitchen, an animal shelter, or at other community organizations. This demonstrates that giving comes in many forms, and donating your time and care for the benefit of others may be more rewarding than a material item.

Parents can demonstrate to their children that the holidays are a joyous time filled with love and the opportunity to show affection through various kinds of “gifts.” Along with the wrapped presents, engaging in seasonal activities with family members and good friends, volunteering, and creating family traditions can make the holiday season a fulfilling time for everyone.

Relevant Directory Listings

See More

Long Island Speech

<p>At Long Island Speech, we recognize the value of every person and are guided by our commitment to excellence. We believe that everyone has the right to better communication in order to improve their quality of life. Our mission is to provide exemplary speech/language and feeding services for each of our patients by our highly qualified clinicians, making a positive difference in the lives of our patients so that they may achieve their highest potential. Through the commitment of our staff, we can maintain a quality of presence and tradition of caring; which are hallmarks for Long Island Speech. Our vision is to be the absolute best speech therapy service provider throughout both Nassau and Suffolk counties. We aspire to be the provider of choice in our industry. We have 9 affiliated offices across Long Island, all participating with most major health insurance companies. We also offer evening and weekend hours. Call 844-5-SPEECH to schedule your first appointment.</p>

Family Speech Center

<p><span id="docs-internal-guid-b076e719-7fff-a614-1e03-7070c8fdb6f7"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">Family Speech Center has been servicing children, adolescents, and adults since 2003. Our Speech-Language Pathologists are trained professionals who evaluate and diagnose adults and children to identify specific speech, language and swallowing difficulties.<br />Once the communication difficulties are assessed and identified, our Speech-Language Pathologists develop and implement a therapy plan individualized to meet a client’s needs.<br />Our staff has experience with many types of communication disorders and difficulties, including language delay and weak vocabulary skills, articulation/phonological disorders, myofunctional disorders, apraxia, language learning disabilities, auditory/language processing difficulties, fluency disorders, and pragmatic/social disorders.</p>

Blüm Autism Study

<p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" data-sheets-value="{" data-sheets-userformat="{">The Blüm Study is currently enrolling children aged 3–8 with autism. Visit blumstudy.com for more information and to find a study location near you!<br /></span></p>