5 Gifts for Children

We have been talking about 5 categories of gifts you might want to consider for your children as you head out to buy them something.

Gift #1: Something to hug and love like a doll or stuffed animal. This is really the gift that teaches your child to care.

Gift #2: A Book! A book given every year will encourage your child to learn...and spend time with you as you read it together.

Gift #3 is today's topic. For this gift I chose a game or a toy. When my kids were little, a toy was appropriate. It took some educating of myself to realize what toy might be the best for this category. I wanted something for my children just to enjoy. Play is their focus...that is how they learn, so the toy I chose needed to be chosen wisely. To pick a toy based on what a child sees on TV commercials isn't always the best way to go. There are so many educational toys available, but you may need to do some investigating to find the one that meets the needs of your child.

As the kids got older, I always bought a family game to play on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. We would add it to our 'game shelf' and play it throughout the year. The kids gave their opinion of what game to buy as they got older. Starting this tradtion early gives the family a cohesiveness about Christmas. We were adding value to the family as we added a game every year. We added memories as we all sat around and played it over and over again! It continues on with adult children as each year we continue to add a game to our holiday fun.

There are hidden lessons in choosing a gift from this category. A child learns to play, to interact and to win and lose. Winning and losing is a skill to teach and best learned in the safety of the family. What a way to teach it...the kids won't even suspect that they are being 'taught' when they sit beneath the Christmas tree, playing a game as a family!

Enjoy your shopping and check in tomorrow for gift#4