Great point! I don’t think generosity applies to all of the sales; people aren’t stampeding on Black Friday to get a craft set for their nephew. But a lot of the sales are part of that generous exercise; good way to look at it. Regarding the negative utility of gifts, I’ve tried explaining it to my five year old but it’s hard to make it stick. I told him that if I get him toys all the time he’ll just be upset when he doesn’t get them; we need to keep it special. He sort of gets the concept but quickly reverts to, “But I want it!” A couple of hours ago: he got a Happy Meal and was upset that the action figure was Mario instead of Yoshi. He cried and said we need to go back in and get a Yoshi toy. We explained it’s random, and he said the workers must know which boxes have which toys. I finally asked if he wanted to throw out his Mario toy. He said no. I said, “So you’re better off than you were before. Let’s be happy about that.” Five second pause. “But I wanted Yoshi!”
Argh, I thought you were headed to a semi-happy ending there. But it looks like pre-schooler logic overwhelmed economic logic this time. We live to fight another day.
One Christmas morning we had to pause our gift exchange because my oldest was having a meltdown because she wanted her sister's present ...oh the joys of Christmas lol
Yesterday Lucy asked me, "Dad, can we pretend that Santa is real?" I said, "Ok, we can do that." She replied, "Because I know that he is!"
I think our kids' friends are not taught to believe in Santa, but nevertheless we teach them not to talk about it because some kids might think he's real.
Wonderful column. I will try to keep in mind that things can be two things.
Great point! I don’t think generosity applies to all of the sales; people aren’t stampeding on Black Friday to get a craft set for their nephew. But a lot of the sales are part of that generous exercise; good way to look at it. Regarding the negative utility of gifts, I’ve tried explaining it to my five year old but it’s hard to make it stick. I told him that if I get him toys all the time he’ll just be upset when he doesn’t get them; we need to keep it special. He sort of gets the concept but quickly reverts to, “But I want it!” A couple of hours ago: he got a Happy Meal and was upset that the action figure was Mario instead of Yoshi. He cried and said we need to go back in and get a Yoshi toy. We explained it’s random, and he said the workers must know which boxes have which toys. I finally asked if he wanted to throw out his Mario toy. He said no. I said, “So you’re better off than you were before. Let’s be happy about that.” Five second pause. “But I wanted Yoshi!”
Argh, I thought you were headed to a semi-happy ending there. But it looks like pre-schooler logic overwhelmed economic logic this time. We live to fight another day.
One Christmas morning we had to pause our gift exchange because my oldest was having a meltdown because she wanted her sister's present ...oh the joys of Christmas lol
Heck, maybe the kids do need to be told "the presents will make you sad!"
Yes, at least prepare them for the possibility of being disappointed, and how to react to that.
How does Santa factor in with kids these days?
We treat Santa like a fun game.
Yesterday Lucy asked me, "Dad, can we pretend that Santa is real?" I said, "Ok, we can do that." She replied, "Because I know that he is!"
I think our kids' friends are not taught to believe in Santa, but nevertheless we teach them not to talk about it because some kids might think he's real.