Whether you’re a doting grandparent, the fun aunt/ uncle or even the well intentioned family friend, buying a gift for the ‘little ones’ in your life can be a daunting task. With so many choices in the market, where does one begin? One runs the risk of buying a gift that they neither like nor need.
On the flip side as parents, we’ve been at the receiving end of many such well intentioned gifts. Gifts that sound great in theory but we wish the gift givers had checked in with us before buying. While we appreciated the intention, it feels horrible when your little one plays with something for 2 minutes and promptly forgets all about it, especially when it's been given with so much love.
So, we put together a little guide to buying meaningful gifts for the little ones you love.
MORE, BIGGER, EXPENSIVE is not always better.
Buying a lot of gifts or even a big and expensive gift is not always better. Think of the purpose behind the gifting. As long as your purpose is met, the number of gifts, the size and the price doesn’t matter.
Choose Gifts That Encourage Family Time
As life gets busier, gifts that bring the family together and increase opportunities for interaction are always appreciated. Books, indoor and outdoor games, activities and experiences are great choices.
Choose Open Ended Gifts
Gifts that can be used in multiple ways, create opportunities for different types of play and conversation every time. Gifts like lego bricks, magna tiles or arts and craft supplies nurture creativity and imagination.
Choose Sustainable Gifts
With all our climate and environment issues, we need to gift our next generation a better world to live in. When choosing a gift, ensure that you’re choosing sustainable gifts. Support businesses that use recycled and recyclable products. Avoid plastic as much as possible.
Choose Gifts That Support Your Values
Ask yourself if the gifts you’re choosing uphold your values. What would you like to pass on to the little one in your life? Your culture, your heritage, your kindness, your empathy, your love for the environment, your love for animals? The gifts you buy are also reflective of who you are and are a way of sharing a bit of yourself with the little one you love.
Choose Gifts that Develop Skills
Gifts that nurture and develop any type of skills - social, emotional, physical, cognitive, critical thinking skills are always useful and appreciated by parents.
Choose Gifts That Bring Joy
Buy gifts that bring a smile to your face, that make you laugh out loud and bring out your inner child. Chances are that it will do the same for the little one in your life too.
Choose Gifts that Grow
Unless it's an experience, no one wants a one-time-use-only gift. Choose gifts that grow with your little one. Gifts that last and encourage your little one to keep coming back. As your little one grows, it adapts to their changing needs. For example, a well written book gifted to a toddler starts out as a book read by a parent to eventually being read by the child.
Keep these few guidelines in mind the next time you shop for the little one you love. We guarantee that the gift will be loved and used again and again!
Follow @indigrowkids for more play and conversation about raising kids in a diverse, multicultural world. Head to https://indigrowkids.com/ for more!
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