All I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth...or an MP3 player
What happened to this simple little request from cute little 1st and 2nd graders? I was eating lunch with my 6 year old today and the little girl in the next chair was telling me she asked Santa for an MP3 player and a Karaoke machine. My 6 year old doesn't even know what an MP3 player is and when I was that age I didn't have a clue about anything except a new doll. What are we doing to our children? They are becoming more and more materialistic at a younger and younger age and it's our fault. We whine about having the latest and greatest thing and keeping up with the Joneses and if they have it then we have to have it and so on and so on. It's pathetic. Now before you all freak out on me let me clarify, I am not saying it's wrong to have "things" but it's the way in which we go about acquring all these things. When we are constantly getting bigger and better we are showing our kids we are never content. And the thing is we will never be able to stay ahead so we might as well find our contentment in what we have and begin teaching it to our kids as soon as we can. Here are a few ways we have found to help curb our kids greed. Everyear right before birthdays and Christmas (and other random times) we go through all their toys and games and we get rid of everything that hasn't been played with. We talk about how some other kid will be so blessed to have this toy and how God will honor their being selfless. We also find an angel tree and I let the kids pick a couple and then we all go together to shop for it. We talk alot about how blessed we are. I also tell them we have to focus on what we do have and not what we don't. The bottom line is this ~ ultimately we love God b/c He loved us first not b/c He gave us an IPOD and that's how it also began with our kids. We loved them from the moment of conception when we gave them life and they now love us in return. Lets keep it that way. Have a blessed Christmas!!
