A Mom Only Allows Her Kids To Open One Present An Hour On Christmas
"My wife likes to ration presents for the kids and have them open one every hour or two," he wrote.
When I was a kid, my siblings and I would run downstairs, stand in awe at the presents surrounding the tree, and promptly lost our minds as we opened one after the other. The pure euphoria that came over us on Christmas morning is still unmatched to this day.
What is better than ripping open every present, shreds of wrapping paper and ribbon flying around, while your mom and dad, bleary-eyed, watch in amazement at just how fast we could open all the gifts?
For one mom, the exact opposite of that kind of moment is what she would prefer on Christmas morning – much to the rest of her family’s chagrin.
A dad posted in the “Parenting” subreddit about his wife’s overbearing Christmas morning plan, and people have a lot of opinions about just how much control this mom has over what should be a fun time for kids.
“Opening presents is always annoying here,” he confessed. “My wife likes to ration presents for the kids and have them open one every hour or two, whereas I prefer to just sit down and take turns opening all of them. What's your process for gifts?”
So, let me get this straight. This mom makes her kids open one gift and then play or hold or stare at this gift for an hour or TWO before they are allowed to open the next one?
To be fair, her general idea, which is most likely to soak in the magic of Christmas and practice gratitude, isn’t horrible. Parents spend a lot of money on Christmas gifts for their kids, and it’s a punch in the gut when they open something with no gusto whatsoever before throwing it aside to open the next one. That totally makes sense.
However, waiting hours in between gifts seems a little extreme. Those who read the dad’s call for opinions seemed to share this sentiment, calling his wife’s Christmas morning present-opening process a full blown “nightmare.”
“One per hour? What do you guys do to fill the rest of the hour? We take turns opening, and if child wants to stop and play with something right now, super. Completely up to him,” they wrote.
It seems totally normal to just have each kid go around and take their own turn when opening a gift that way, they get their moment to soak in the presents and parents can watch each kids’ individual reaction. Seems like a good compromise!
Another user pointed out that if this family gives out ten gifts per kid, that would be at least a 10 hour Christmas present opening process. They wrote, “I don't understand. When I was a child I definitely had Christmases where I had ten gifts, you know between all my family members, parents, and "Santa". .... do these people really take TEN HOURS to open gifts?????”
Other users just got down to the nitty-gritty of the issue and called this mom out for having control issues. One Reddit user joked that the kids needed to revolt against their mom. “It’s controlling… hopefully at some point the children want a Christmas revolution and actually get a say. Big time fun police mom,” they wrote.
Another user had an interesting take on the mom’s decision to drag out the morning for as long as possible, noting that for some kids with ADHD or focus issues this type of process can be really soothing and helpful.
“It can be helpful for kids who get really overwhelmed or have ADHD and can’t focus on 10 gifts at once, and who will get more enjoyment out of playing with a smaller set of toys gradually than being presented 10 toys and going nuts! Additionally it can give some time to play with more challenging toys before the overstimulating toys,” they wrote.
They continued, “My family has never had to do it this way, but I was a guest of a family that did. Three add/spectrum little boys, all under 10 years old. I can totally see how the parents wanted to break up the chaos, just for their own sanity, and how easy it would be for those kids to get sugared up and overwhelmed/crazy chaos if they opened everything in one go!”
Read the entire thread here.
