Daughter's birthday gift ideas (method, teaching, games, parents)
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I'm stuck on what to get my daughter for her birthday. I plan to go out shopping today and so far my ideas rest on clothes and books. Although, those are good ideas, but should there be the "One Gift to Rule Them All"?
She's only nine years old, turning ten. My hesitation on getting her anything expensive is that her attitude and responsibility are seriously lacking. I've gotten her a Nintendo hand-held game a few years ago, but she brought it to school a couple times. I found out and took it away from her. She also stole my iPod from my room and took that to school; however, it's password protected, so she couldn't get access. The teacher gave it back to me on our parent teacher conference.
She does like playing video games, and while I regulate her play time, her homework and grades will suffer later on. I want to start small, give her a good reason to do her homework on a daily basis and then get the treat of playing a game for an hour or so. This has worked so far, but the computer she uses is slowly becoming useless (she tends to click on every link when she plays on-line games from a website).
Any ideas? She already has a Nabi, but I can tell she doesn't like the basic and childish structure/OS.
There does not need to be "an expensive gift". Your daughter has shown that she is not ready to handle expensive items that can be taken to school and possibly lost, misplaced or damaged.
At our house birthdays were always very low key and we rarely, if ever, gave "an expensive gift". Our children are now adults and grew up fine and well adjusted.
Does she have a Wii? She can't take that to school. I agree you don't have to get expensive gifts. how about giving her some money but not enough to really purchase anything she wants and tell her she can earn the rest to buy that special something. maybe if she has a vested interest she will respect it better.
my girls are only a few years older and they still ask for legos, special socks, hair clips, extra pair of shoes, art supplies, bracelet making kits, puzzles, books, big pack of colored construction paper.
Does she have a Wii? She can't take that to school. I agree you don't have to get expensive gifts. how about giving her some money but not enough to really purchase anything she wants and tell her she can earn the rest to buy that special something. maybe if she has a vested interest she will respect it better.
my girls are only a few years older and they still ask for legos, special socks, hair clips, extra pair of shoes, art supplies, bracelet making kits, puzzles, books, big pack of colored construction paper.
I guess the 'Expensive Gift' is more of a Christmas gift theme, or perhaps not. We did have a Wii for a long time, but like I mentioned before, her grades start to falter if she gets to play it often. She also tends to bend real life with the gaming world.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Natsku
Clothes and books sound fine. Has she mentioned what she would like?
For clothes, it's what I would like to see her in, or what I will allow. She would like nothing more than to wear spaghetti strap tops, short skirts, bikinis, and a few other "trashy" level of clothing, but I'm no fool.
As far as books go, I really don't care what book she gets. As long as it's not 50 Shades of Grey material and she reads the book, I'm OK. I bought her The Lightning Thief for Christmas and she liked it but she brought it to school and it was never seen again.
Thanks for the ideas. Maybe some small lego sets to try out, too.
I guess the 'Expensive Gift' is more of a Christmas gift theme, or perhaps not. We did have a Wii for a long time, but like I mentioned before, her grades start to falter if she gets to play it often. She also tends to bend real life with the gaming world.
For clothes, it's what I would like to see her in, or what I will allow. She would like nothing more than to wear spaghetti strap tops, short skirts, bikinis, and a few other "trashy" level of clothing, but I'm no fool.
As far as books go, I really don't care what book she gets. As long as it's not 50 Shades of Grey material and she reads the book, I'm OK. I bought her The Lightning Thief for Christmas and she liked it but she brought it to school and it was never seen again.
Thanks for the ideas. Maybe some small lego sets to try out, too.
Just wanted to say THANK YOU for being strict about this. It's bad enough a girl her age would even want those but so many parents just give in, it's ridiculous! Anyway, perhaps she'd like the Nancy Drew books?
My daughter's prized possessions are her tablet and her mp3 player. The mp3 player was only $15 at Walmart and she listens to it while she helps clean the house.
She also really likes her spaghetti-strap tops...we buy the $3 ones from Walmart with the bra built in (really more of a lining for the top half). It's hot enough here most of the year that those are a wardrobe staple for us, not a trashy garment. Sometimes she wears them with a button-up shirt on top.
My daughter still wants dolls for her birthday. Her big sister who's 12 likes to get dolls for presents too.
If you're looking for a big present, what about a bike? It's great exercise, just be sure you get one that really fits her. Half the kids I see riding in my neighborhood are riding bikes way too small for them.
I'm stuck on what to get my daughter for her birthday. I plan to go out shopping today and so far my ideas rest on clothes and books. Although, those are good ideas, but should there be the "One Gift to Rule Them All"?
She's only nine years old, turning ten. My hesitation on getting her anything expensive is that her attitude and responsibility are seriously lacking. I've gotten her a Nintendo hand-held game a few years ago, but she brought it to school a couple times. I found out and took it away from her. She also stole my iPod from my room and took that to school; however, it's password protected, so she couldn't get access. The teacher gave it back to me on our parent teacher conference.
She does like playing video games, and while I regulate her play time, her homework and grades will suffer later on. I want to start small, give her a good reason to do her homework on a daily basis and then get the treat of playing a game for an hour or so. This has worked so far, but the computer she uses is slowly becoming useless (she tends to click on every link when she plays on-line games from a website).
Any ideas? She already has a Nabi, but I can tell she doesn't like the basic and childish structure/OS.
I have a dear friend with a daughter about that age and she has really dialed back on the electronics. There have been a lot of studies that have shown that spending excessive amounts of times on electronics does not stimulate the brain's learning centers like more traditional activities do. My friend has been buying her daughter a lot of books and craft materials in the hopes of stimulating her interests in non-electronic activities. It seems to be working. Her daughter is a lot more calm and much less given to emotional outbursts than she used to be. I don't know if there is a direct causation or not, but life is a lot more peaceful now.
My daughter is about that age and I always give her clothes, books and craft type things. She has a DSi but she is not allowed to take it to school and can never play on it during the school week. I like teaching my kids new things so I buy them things we can do together or they can do together.
Models: I buy little wooden models to have in our project basket. The only cost $1 at AC Moore and the kids enjoy building them with me.
Friendship Bracelets: My daughter and I have worked on making friendship bracelets together (I bought her the FB maker and a booklet). There are also many websites and YouTube videos to show you how to do it so we've learned together. Friendship Bracelet maker
Cooking: I've been buying cookbooks for the kids since they were little. They love to help in the kitchen and both know how to read recipes. One night a week, I let them make dinner. They just have to let me know what they want to make so I order the right groceries. They make a cooking set for kids with the measuring cups and spoons in various colors so they don't have to understand fractions (or even how to read) to choose the right cup or spoon.
Gardening: My kids are interested in gardening and we tried container gardening for the first time last year. We took notes and are still learning. We sprouted our seeds and just planted them yesterday in containers on our deck.
As far as the homework situation, I have done a few things that have greatly improved the atmosphere here.
Extra homework - Any concept that is hard or confusing gets repeated until it's truly learned. This means, I will print out extra homework sheets, go to the library and require a report on a subject or some other method to make a topic understandable. I tell them that homework is not *done* when you finish an assignment. It's a life long process of using what you've learned to learn more things. It doesn't always involve writing or sitting down for hours. Recently, she was learning about plants in school so I found a project online for her to explore the plants and trees in our yard.
After school structure - After school, my children get 30-60 minutes for a snack or just to unwind. They can choose anything other than video games or television. After that, they each have their own desk, chair and lamp (these were birthday gifts for them last year). I bought them bins from Five Below which is for all their graded homework and anything I'm supposed to look at. After that, they each sit down and work on whatever homework they have. My first grader is getting homework that is too easy so I always print out extra work for him. I don't want them to be overwhelmed, but I need both of them to be focused so the bored one isn't interrupting the other one.
Lunches and Snacks - My children don't care for the school lunches so we almost always pack a lunch and snack. I'm getting them both more involved in that process because (1) I've been sick and it's been difficult to manage it all, and (2) I want them to understand that things don't magically happen. My youngest is faster in the mornings so he will help gather items for lunches and snacks and my oldest will put them in each back pack. Sometimes, I let her make the lunches completely like when they prefer to take salads and just ice water. Both kids have been good about saying "Thank you" to me, but it's getting even more often now that they are helping in this way.
Good luck with your daughter.
Last edited by mjd07; 04-13-2014 at 01:28 AM..
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