More gift drama

Gratitude is a hard 'skill' to teach. Harder than empathy I think. My lovely ILs do not make it any easier.

When they see the kids the like to give the kids something- which is really sweet- but they get the kids things that are inappropriate.

Just last weekend they got my five year old a board book- you know like for toddlers. She is five- she can read- we have read "Little House on the Prairie" "The Secret Garden" and the like. A board book is a little well baby-ish. Which is exactly what my five year old said. She seemed a little insulted that my in laws thought that she would like this book.

In all honestly my mother-in-law is one of the least skilled gifters- from giving things that I am deathly allergic to- to just bad taste- we have had some interesting gifts. A ten pound brass maltese cross comes to mind. I am still looking for a nice way to just tell them to please skip the gift giving- save their money or give it to charity.

In this situation I thanked the in-laws and tried to subtly explain that it is polite to thank the gift giver; later after the in-laws left I tried to nicely say that sometimes people do give us things that they think we would like but we really don't- that it is still nice to thank them and appreciate the fact that they thought of you.

Age-Appropriate Gifting

Each year I'm amazed at the gifts my in-law give my kids. Without fail they're not only inappropriate for their age, but sometimes unsafe. For Bean's second Christmas (she was just over a year), my in-laws gave her a porcelain flowery tool set. Not a toy one... one that an adult woman (albeit no self-respecting woman) would own. Because nothing says "perfect for a child that's almost walking" like hard metal tools with breakable handles.

At her third Christmas, she received a very fragile tea set. You know, at the age where they like to bang things repeatedly on hard surfaces.

So I'm a little nervous to see what will be under the tree this year. Perhaps a box of dynamite? Baby's first BB gun?