“C” in Christmas = Creativity!

Getting ready for the holidays, I came across an interesting article on “what’s hot” this year for kids.

1. A wooden Tool Box
2. Grow Your Own Veggies Kit
3. Wooded Kitchen Appliances

This begs the question, Should we buy kids things so that they can pretend to be adults?

I remember one Christmas morning where my older sister was so excited when she unwrapped an Easy Bake Oven. It turned out to be a gift for me as well, as she became the maker of tiny cakes for the family for weeks.
But why give our kids gifts that make them perform tasks that as an adult are chores? Are we preparing them for a future without imagination? And in the end, many young kids find more fun in playing with the box that the gift came in.

I recently read a story about a couple who challenged and expanded their kids creativity and imaginations, simply by recycling toys they already had.
Here’s what they did…early every morning, the parents would take the kids tiny toy dinosaurs and create a story. One morning the dinosaurs were placed in the kitchen in the chaos of breakfast, one was sitting in a bowl of cereal, another upside down, with its head stuck in an empty milk carton. Another morning they were creating mayhem in the kids bathroom, with toilet paper simply everywhere!

This adventure continued for a month, with the kids going to bed at night not knowing what or where their dinosaurs would appear the next morning. This of course created great conversations, not only within the family, but among friends as well.

Seems like a lot of work for the parents, but a great investment of time as lifetime memories were created and shared with us as an option, an alternative to spending so much time and money on “things”.
It’s not that I am suggesting that we place nothing under the tree, it’s that I am suggesting that this year, I try to use my imagination more than my debit card.