I’ve seen ungrateful kids open presents. They seem to have a look of expectation and boredom on their face as they are looking forward to a next, bigger and better present. It makes me sad.
I haven’t raised my kids to be those kids. Mine have been taught to be gracious, probably too much so. Gush over a gift, tell the person how perfect it is for you and how you can’t wait to use it. Times are tight and I let my kids know that. I remind them how much someone is put out to have thought of them at all. I tell them to not expect much of anything- and then they’ll be pleasantly surprised, God willing.
And they are really good at accepting gifts. I don’t think there’s much that I could give them that they wouldn’t appear grateful for…well, maybe an old banana.
I LOVE Jimmy Kimmel and I’m all for joking around with your kids and exploiting them in good spirit. But the kid in the striped shirt would have been on my “naughty list” too! I can say with certainty that if my kid reacted like that 1.) I wouldn’t have been laughing behind the camera 2.) I wouldn’t have sent it to You Tube and 3.) I would have been busy returning the other stuff I got him! COME ON! He got a Hello Kitty sweater, it’s not as bad as the kid that got a half eaten sandwich!
I was always taught to act like I ABSOLUTELY love a gift when I receive it, whether I did or not. It was something that we always did at my house. We never really had much, so whatever we got, was extraordinarily special to us and we were abundantly grateful for everything. We would ooh and ahh over the gift NO MATTER WHAT. If I just bought the exact same thing- doesn’t matter. If it were 4 sizes too big- doesn’t matter. If it were a rainbow sequined tie from my step dad’s parents (I assure you, they do exist)- YOU ACT LIKE YOU LOVE IT AND COULDN’T LIVE WITHOUT IT. And so I did.
I remember one year, my sister won a $25 gift certificate to a toy store and at the age of 12, had outgrown “toys”. So she decided to buy our 9 year old step sister a Barbie Doll with it. I was 19 and remember thinking what a sweet gesture it was of her to do that. When my step sister opened it, she seemed underwhelmed, tossed it aside, and made mention of being too old for Barbies.
My heart broke in a hundred pieces for my sister at that moment and I realized why my mom had instilled in us to put on a show, show our gratitude, and even exaggerate it.
I’ll admit, there have been times when my kids have opened up something that they already had and my heart stops for a second, waiting to see how they’ll respond. Once, when my daughter was five, she looked like a deer caught in headlights as she opened up a duplicate board game that she asked for. I gave her the it’s OK, we’ll take care of it look, knowing that I had bought the other one and could easily return it.
I think, I hope, I have taught my kids to do the same. Whether it’s sincere or not? I really couldn’t give a shit. Because that’s just what you do.
I just watched the video, after seeing many people link it on FB. I would have been ashamed to post a video of my kid acting like that one in the stripes. Also, the kid at the end that said “suck my b**ls” would not have been on YouTube and instead would have been writing sentences for the next month about crude language. Or something. Geez.
I am with you! Only I wasn’t explicitly told by my mother to act happy for the gifts that I hated. Instead, once, I acted less than OVERjoyed and she dumped a dumpster full of guilt-shit on my and I never did that again. You are right about the kid with the Hello Kitty gift. His ass would be getting NOTHING for Christmas. I would have said, “Kid, this was a joke but seeing the way you acted over it makes me realize that I have raised a spoiled little shit so guess what? YOU WILL OPEN ALL THE GIFTS YOU REALLY GOT THIS YEAR AND GET ALL EXCITED OVER THEM AND THEN MARCH YOUR ASS OVER TO A DONATION BOX/CHURCH/FOOD CUPBOARD/WHATEVER WITH THEM!! And, I may sound like a terrible person here but that kid that said that Jimmy Kimmel can suck his balls…I laughed my ass off…best part of my day and I needed the laugh after the hellish 2 weeks I have had!! Thank you for posting the video! I hope you have a Merry Christmas and you get gifts that you absolutely love for real!!!
My daughter is two, so we’re still working on “thank you”, but this is good food for thought. The problem I see with GUSHING is that is sets the expectation with folks that you will use/play with/wear the item often. And then when they never see it again? I’m obviously not saying that you should be ungrateful, but I’m just not sure how to handle it. I have some relatives who are always asking me why my daughter hasn’t worn the xyz that they bought. (Sigh.)