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I grew up as a kid in the 80's and I can remember getting really excited for Christmas. It wasn't just getting gifts -- it was having 2 weeks off school to sleep in and stay in PJs all day, visit some cousins I rarely see, and maybe do some sled-riding or snowball fights with friends if there was snow. Even watching "Rudolph" or "Charlie Brown Xmas" on TV was a fun time in those days. I actually enjoyed helping my Mom decorate the tree, and climbing ladders to help my Dad string lights.
But these days, kids dont seem enthused about Christmas at all. I have 2 nephews and a niece ages 8-12 and they really seemed bored by the whole thing. They always get nice gifts, but seem very blase about it. I bought my 8 yr. old nephew a cool $100 quadcopter drone with HD camera last year and he didnt even wanna fly it. I would have wetted my undies getting a gift like that at his age!
Are kids so jaded and obsessed with social media that Christmas is seen as a huge waste of time to them?
I grew up as a kid in the 80's and I can remember getting really excited for Christmas. It wasn't just getting gifts -- it was having 2 weeks off school to sleep in and stay in PJs all day, visit some cousins I rarely see, and maybe do some sled-riding or snowball fights with friends if there was snow.
1. Many people, even adults, wear their PJ's all day. Ever see a person with wrinkled sweet pants? To be honest I do this too, but with jeans.
2. Many kids don't play outside much any more. One reason the health of children in this country is so bad. Many just stay inside and play video games.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jynnie847
Even watching "Rudolph" or "Charlie Brown Xmas" on TV was a fun time in those days. I actually enjoyed helping my Mom decorate the tree, and climbing ladders to help my Dad string lights. But these days, kids don't seem enthused about Christmas at all. I have 2 nephews and a niece ages 8-12 and they really seemed bored by the whole thing.
I think everyone is feeling the change. It used to be that everyone would celebrate Christmas two weeks before Christmas day. Now it feels less special to construct and decorate the tree when they have been up in the stores and public since early November. Also, many of the Christmas specials are aired in late November and early December now. This makes many people tired of Christmas specials because they have been ran for the last month, month and a half. Same goes with Christmas songs, and there is only a hand full of those so it is very easy to get burnt out.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jynnie847
They always get nice gifts, but seem very blase about it. I bought my 8 yr. old nephew a cool $100 quadcopter drone with HD camera last year and he didnt even wanna fly it. I would have wetted my undies getting a gift like that at his age!
......Every Christmas, my brother throws out his kids gifts from last Christmas that his kids get board with. They get so many that some haven't been played with. Many times, it is the unwrapping of the gift that excites the child and giver the most. Quantity has taken the spot of quality. Therefore, I never gave my nieces and nephews Christmas gifts. Last year I decided I would just give them one big gift, so I gave the older ones 3ds and the younger ones kids tablets and bikes (to keep the dollar amount the same). They got so many big(expensive) gifts that my gifts were easily thrown aside. I blame a lot of this on advanced materialism and competing parents, as I think we have more divorces and/or out of wedlock children than the 80's.
......I also think that the holidays puts extra stress and burdens on adults, while they are still expected to keep up their Christmas cheer. I think that many children can pick up on this fake display. I think that, the mix of advance materialism makes Christmas spirit loose its genuineness.
I think that Christmas creep is causing "Christmas fatigue" by the time the holiday actually gets here. Christmas decorations go out and Christmas music comes on the radio as early as Halloween these days. Even as recently as the '90s, there was very little Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving and you really didn't start to hear Christmas music until Christmas week. Christmas seemed a long ways from Halloween. Today Halloween pretty much kicks off the Holidays. Rudolph and Frosty would air in mid-December. Now it's late November or early December. When 1/6th of a year is "Christmas", it loses its sense of specialness.
Unfortunately, like retailers opening on Thanksgiving, there isn't really putting this genie back in the bottle.
I agree. I think so many kids today have so much stuff and overstimulation that the simple holiday things don't seem special anymore. It's sad.
As for kids, I would advise you to not waste your hard-earned money like that anymore. Honestly, I've found that if you wrap up a $10 gift or a $100 gift, you get the same response, so go with the $10 gift and spend the rest on yourself
A few years ago our local big box put the Christmas decorations out in August. They have gotten better. At least they wait until late September, early October now.
I grew up as a kid in the 80's and I can remember getting really excited for Christmas. It wasn't just getting gifts -- it was having 2 weeks off school to sleep in and stay in PJs all day, visit some cousins I rarely see, and maybe do some sled-riding or snowball fights with friends if there was snow. Even watching "Rudolph" or "Charlie Brown Xmas" on TV was a fun time in those days. I actually enjoyed helping my Mom decorate the tree, and climbing ladders to help my Dad string lights.
But these days, kids dont seem enthused about Christmas at all. I have 2 nephews and a niece ages 8-12 and they really seemed bored by the whole thing. They always get nice gifts, but seem very blase about it. I bought my 8 yr. old nephew a cool $100 quadcopter drone with HD camera last year and he didnt even wanna fly it. I would have wetted my undies getting a gift like that at his age!
Are kids so jaded and obsessed with social media that Christmas is seen as a huge waste of time to them?
I say it's mostly about parenting. As you said, you helped your mom decorate the tree and your dad string lights so, your parent's attitudes helped make Xmas fun for you. They let you get INVOLVED with the whole drama.
I suspect that todays kids DO NOT have that kind of INVOLVED parents/parenting and so the kids are UNHAPPY & BORED due to very bad and inadequate parental support or connections.
Last night I was in a movie where there were a lot of NOISY teens and I could just feel the unhappiness, NEED FOR ATTENTION and anger in those kids all because their parents are either negligent or simply cannot LOVE their NEEDY, empty kids so the kids were making a racket in the movie to get NOTICED which really means LOVED. Some angry man told them to SHUT THE F***K UP so the noisy kids fell silent but I bet they would have rather been loved, accepted and respected!
I was a kid once and I just wanted to be loved and accepted but didn't know how to get it so I made a lot of noise and did a lot of mean things all because we had really BAD PARENTS!!!
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