The Best and Least Expensive Gift a Parent can give a Child

Many parents are under the impression that buying your child name brand items and everything he or she wants is the ideal measure of good parenting.  They think that just by giving them all that they desire, it will prevent them from desiring anything that the parent cannot afford.  The only problem with this is they are wrong and have been for so long, I’m embarrassed that it has taken so long for many of us to realize it.

If you buy your child only name brand items and everything he or she wants, you are setting them up to keep that mindset as they age and because of that, they now will do whatever they need to in order to obtain that desire.  People often wonder why children shoplift especially when they are quite affluent or have the money in their pockets.  Children shoplift because they want it now and the effort to walk up to the counter and pay for it is just too much for them.  You ask why children who are poor shoplift, simply because their parents have filled them with so much hate and contempt that they think they deserve it for all the other times that they had to go without or watch other kids receive them.

The best and least expensive gift any parent could ever give a child is the truth.  Telling your child the truth does not cost you a dime but it makes your child aware that the sun does not rise and shine based on their orders.  That the stars and the moon are not populating the sky because they exist.  In other words, making sure that you child knows exactly where they stand means that they will never fall under any misconceptions of who they are.  The amount of money a parent makes does not make the child into who they will become.  It is the manner of how that child is raised which has more to do with that than anything else.  Telling them the truth means you will never have to worry about what you told them six weeks ago concerning the subject and you will never have to fear your child questioning you or anything you may have told them in the past.

If you are a parent who believes that the world owes you because you are in it, then don’t be surprised if your child learns and acts like that as well.  Children are possessive but so are adults, either you horde because you never had or you horde because you think you deserve, but giving your child the gift of truth means that now you can rest assured that you gave your child the best gift that money cannot buy.  You gave your child the ability to think for themselves and compromise when necessary.  How many adults do you know today who can’t or won’t do that?  Telling a child that you can’t afford something right now does not make that child see you any less than someone who respected them enough to tell them the truth.  Now when you get that which you couldn't afford before, watch how happy that child will be and how guarded of that item they become.  If you are not sure it works, try it and watch their reactions.  Sometimes you can learn more from a child than you can any adult.