As a rule follower, I shouldn't be surprised by now when other people don't play by the rules.
Especially in this case. Gifts for kids are fraught!
The daycare Christmas party had Santa handing out presents to every child, with each parent responsible for buying a gift for $10 or less for their own offspring.
I personally didn't expect whatever I chose for Spud to even make it back home from daycare - even more reason, in my mind, to keep it simple.
But as it turns out, we had a massive outage at work that morning, and so with nothing to do ... I nipped up the road to daycare to attend the Santa visit and witness the gift exchange.
As some kids unwrapped big, cool trucks and whatnot, others (including Spud) quickly got Christmas gift envy. Longing stares and subtle drifts towards the coveted toys started to converge from all directions. Spud even threw his tiny toy on the floor and declared that he didn't want it.
This was a major trigger for me. We didn't do presents in my household growing up (Not a money thing.) I still have issues around lack, scarcity, comparison and envy of other people's stuff.
My first instinct? SCREW IT! NEXT YEAR WE'RE GOING BIG! Forget the budget limit, clearly others totally ignored it!
But I eventually came to see the real lesson here. A life lesson for my kid.
Some people will have more than you. Some people will have less.It would be silly and futile to bend over backwards to spare him disappointment. That's not how life works.
I acknowledged that he wanted those other trucks. That maybe the others would share and they could all play together - but ultimately, that would be up to them.
It was a lesson for me, too. To let him feel and express those feelings. To be his teacher and to steer him through the ups and downs of being human. If one thing is for sure, it's that there will be countless more to come.
