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I know this is a little late, but I haven't had time to use the internet since Christmas. This isn't exactly a parenting question, but I thought this was probably the most suitable forum for this question.
I would like to think that most people would find it unacceptable for children to act greedy and selfish on Christmas morning. I can understand how many kids would be excited to open their presents, but I'd like to think that parents would teach their kids to be patient. When I was a child, I was excited to open my presents, but I was always able to contain that excitement until it was time to open the presents. I never pestered my parents to open the presents RIGHT NOW NOW NOW.
What are your thoughts on children who won't even give you 20 minutes Christmas morning to "wake-up" after you've just woken up? Do you just open the presents as soon as you get out of bed or do you like to have 20 minutes or so to "wake-up" and maybe grab a cup or two of coffee? Of course, this question applies only to those who open presents before breakfast.
What if it wasn't kids who were behaving greedily on Christmas morning? What if your adult relatives were very insistent on opening presents as soon as you walked out of the bedroom, before you even had a chance to use the bathroom? What if they wouldn't allow you to have 10-20 minutes to "wake-up" and grab a cup of coffee before they started opening presents (they'll open presents with or without you)? Would this bother you? If so, why?
When I was a kid, none of my presents were wrapped. So I could have them as soon as I woke up on Christmas morning, without waiting for anyone to wake up and watch me open them.
Santa's not as lazy when he comes to my house...my kids' gifts are wrapped. But my only rule is not to wake me up until the sun comes up. I don't need a cup of coffee, I just need to put my contact lenses in and put my hair up in a bun and then I'm ready to begin the tedious project of trying to extract little plastic pieces from impossible packages, scissors and wire cutters in hand.
I love the way my kids are still excited about Christmas morning.
It's only once a year. Not worth getting irritated about. And the memories we make with our kids are the ones they will remember 30 years down the road when they're having Christmas with their kids.
We wake up before our children, so this doesn't apply to us. It can be a chore to get them to go to bed Christmas Eve, but they eventually fall asleep. I never get to go to bed early the night before Christmas (wrapping, stockings, etc.), so it's not that big a deal.
I think anticipation is half the fun and with our now grown kids we always told them to wait for us to get our act together before going to the tree. They usually climbed in bed with us all giggly and excited and they waited for us to actually get up.
Any adult who shows such impatience would not be welcome in my house.
I think this can be handled by talking about it the night before and some families let the kids pick one gift to open christmas eve.
My son used to be a greedy guts about it all. he counted gifts to make sure everything was even and fair. Once we explained the "life isn't fair" concept to him, it wasn't a problem anymore but we had to be proactive in reigning him in. He's 30 and still gets excited on Christmas morning even tho Santa rarely has anything under the tree for him.
Many times we as parents bring this behavior on ourselves by always asking "what do you want Santa to bring you" "Have you been a good boy/girl?" and all the other "Christmas is about getting presents" comments. If we calm that down a bit I think the kids will be more reasonable.
Also, we do stockings, then breakfast, then gifts. If they manage to get downstairs without waking me (doubtful), I wouldn't be too upset if they got into their stockings, but I'd remind them to wait next time. They all know better than to mess with the presents without us there.
I know this is a little late, but I haven't had time to use the internet since Christmas. This isn't exactly a parenting question, but I thought this was probably the most suitable forum for this question.
I would like to think that most people would find it unacceptable for children to act greedy and selfish on Christmas morning. I can understand how many kids would be excited to open their presents, but I'd like to think that parents would teach their kids to be patient. When I was a child, I was excited to open my presents, but I was always able to contain that excitement until it was time to open the presents. I never pestered my parents to open the presents RIGHT NOW NOW NOW.
What are your thoughts on children who won't even give you 20 minutes Christmas morning to "wake-up" after you've just woken up? Do you just open the presents as soon as you get out of bed or do you like to have 20 minutes or so to "wake-up" and maybe grab a cup or two of coffee? Of course, this question applies only to those who open presents before breakfast.
What if it wasn't kids who were behaving greedily on Christmas morning? What if your adult relatives were very insistent on opening presents as soon as you walked out of the bedroom, before you even had a chance to use the bathroom? What if they wouldn't allow you to have 10-20 minutes to "wake-up" and grab a cup of coffee before they started opening presents (they'll open presents with or without you)? Would this bother you? If so, why?
I don't see this as greediness and selfishness. I see it as being excited, which makes Christmas fun for me again as well. For a child, Christmas takes forever to finally arrive, and yes, they usually cannot wait to open their presents. I let mine open hers right away, if she does me the favor of letting me at least wash my face and brush my teeth. I usually wake up before she does.
Greediness and selfishness is when the child is being ungrateful, complaining about what they got or didn't get, etc. That is the behavior I wouldn't be able to tolerate. But being overly excited about presents doesn't bother me at all, in fact, I love seeing it.
When I was little, I can still see my sisters and brother & I waiting at the top of the stairs to go down. We had to wait for my parents to. Rush their teeth and get their bathrobes on, it was always funny to us because my dad would take his time, on purpose!
Now, we try to do the same with our kids, we have NEVER had Xmas morning in our own house though,we don't live near family and so we travel every Christmas to be home..
We leave 1 "big" gift ( not necessarily meaning size, just the most wanted, I guess) unwrapped and all others are wrapped.
We do stockings first and then gifts, then a quick breakfast with my family and off to my husband's side ofmthe family. An hour away...
Christmas morning is somewhat rushed for us, trying to appease both sides! Lol..
Our girls are good about it though...
What if it wasn't kids who were behaving greedily on Christmas morning? What if your adult relatives were very insistent on opening presents as soon as you walked out of the bedroom, before you even had a chance to use the bathroom?
My adult relatives cannot INSIST that I or my children do anything.
Quote:
What if they wouldn't allow you to have 10-20 minutes to "wake-up" and grab a cup of coffee before they started opening presents (they'll open presents with or without you)? Would this bother you? If so, why?
They sure as hell would NOT be opening presents without me. But then it is my home that we would be in. Absolutely nothing occurs in my life before coffee. We queue it up the night before.
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