This is the time of year when everyone stresses about trying to purchase the perfect gifts for the children in their life.  This can be a challenge for parents and grandparents who try to come up with the “best” gift for their children and grandchildren.   Many of our children have more toys and things than they need, and sometimes it becomes overwhelming trying to purchase gifts that will be enjoyed, used, and loved.  I came up with a few guidelines that I will be adhering to this holiday season as I purchase GIFTS for the children in my life.

G- Give children opportunities to GIVE BACK TO OTHERS!  It can be as simple as baking cookies for neighbors and delivering them together.  We have made ziplock bags with travel size essentials and given them to the homeless as we pull up to traffic lights in our town.  Several times we have gone to the grocery store and bought bags of groceries and placed them on the steps of a family in need.  Try volunteering your family to work at a service organization for an afternoon or evening.  At our Montessori school we have gathered canned goods for those in need.  We also collected coats and blankets for the homeless, which we distributed one cold evening in front of a homeless shelter along with hot chocolate!  Every year we collected toys for our local children’s hospital.  A few other giving opportunities we participated in were:   dog food for animal shelters, care packages for soldiers, flip flops for children in Africa, and earning money to purchase a well in an undeveloped country.  What I have found is that GIVING can become an ADDICTIVE BEHAVIOR!

I-Give the gift of INDEPENDENCE for the children in your life.  Give them their own little broom, dust pan, feather duster, little pail and washcloths.  Demonstrate and allow them to “clean up” after themselves!  Hang hooks low so they may put up their own coat.   When my twin boys were young, my husband placed the rods in their closet low so they could hang up all their own clothes.  They loved it!  In our kitchen area we had a small child size picnic table so when I was stirring or mixing they could help! 

F- FUN EXPERIENCES, rather than more toys!  Consider seasonal tickets to a children’s theater or children's museum, a day at the zoo, the arboretum, a nature walk, making cookies, swimming, riding bikes, freeze dance to Christmas music, or go to a park.  No money needed to create fun experiences with your students or your own children!

T- TIME, is truly the best gift!  Time is the one thing we cannot buy or make.  The children in your life want TIME with the people they love.  The love of reading and books is a wonderful way to spend time with a child.  Go to your local library and assist your child in getting their own library card so they can check out books.  Take the time every two weeks to go to the library, browse and pick out books and read them together! Once I took my entire class on a field trip to the library where they obtained their own library card and checked out books.

S-Save.  Take a child to a store and let them choose a piggy bank.  Then assign chores for them to earn money to put in the bank.  When they have saved money allow them to go to a dollar store or allow them to save for something large they would like.  Then allow them to purchase the object themselves.  I have done this in my classroom as well.  Parents allowed their children to earn change at home, which they brought to school on show and tell day and told everyone what they did to learn the money.  Then we purchased a new hand washing basin and pitcher for our class.  The entire class could not wait for it to come in the mail!  Learning to earn money, save and count money as well as spend it wisely are skills that can last a lifetime!

Happy holidays to all of you and the children in your life!!  Teach giving, independence, enjoy fun times, and save for a rainy day with your little ones!