Never compare, someone always gets hurt.

That’s our family mantra, and we use it often.

When my boys were very young (perhaps 5 and 7) we had an uncomfortable realization about comparisons.  During Christmas when they were young, I always tried to be careful about gifts.  They had to be similar size boxes, so THEY thought they were the same value, but they had to be similar prices so *I* knew they had the same value.  It was hard work and emotionally exhausting.  Then one day I heard them playing by the Christmas tree.  When I went to check on them, I had quite a surprise.  They had pulled all the wrapped gifts from the tree, and piled them into two piles.  They were carefully weighing each stack of gifts on our bathroom scale, and adding it together.  They wanted to find out who had more POUNDS of Christmas presents!

I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard!  It just goes to prove that no matter HOW careful you are, it’s possible for kids to measure life in a completely different way!

I have to say, parents, just do your best at Christmas.  You can’t do any better than that.  If they weigh they Christmas presents – oh well!  As parents we simply can’t be perfect.  Just do your best, and it will be fine.

Now… back to that Christmas shopping!

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Filed under: Sage Advice, Younger Students by Lee