I definitely think kids these days expect a lot more for Christmas. I don't really ever remember giving my parents a list of presents I wanted, I think I probably mentioned one or 2 things and if they could afford it then they'd buy it - if they couldn't then I had something else instead but me and my brother always had lots of presents...Mum used to buy all through the year to make things easier and we always had lots of stocking fillers that didn't cost the earth so that we had lots of things to open
BUT, I am dreading my boys getting older...my eldest will be 3 in Nov and he's already started seeing things other kids are playing with or advertised on TV or even in shops and saying "I want that", I don;t want him to be spoilt but on the other hand I don't want him to feel like he's missed out - it's a fine line between the 2
My biggest issue is that my husband does spoil the boys (my youngest is only 14months), his reason is that although he loves his parents to bits they were quite selfish in that they spent all their spare cash on cigarettes and going to the pub and they never got much for christmas/birthdays....as a result he's gone the other way and spoils them because he doesn't want them to feel how he felt as a child
Every time he has spare cash he brings home a new figure for the eldest, something to wear for the youngest and I feel it will make them not appreciate times like christmas and birthdays...it's so hard
xxx