I guess it's not that unheard of to be thinking about abundance during the Christmas season, when we are giving and receiving and loving one another to our heart's content. But even so, I couldn't help thinking about the other 364 days of the year-how we create or take away from the feeling of abundance in the lives of our families.
About a week ago, I saw a video from the Jimmy Kimmel Show, in which he asked parents, his viewers, to tell their children that they were going to open an early Christmas present. The catch was, Jimmy Kimmel told the viewers to put something quite awful in the gift and then watch their child's reaction. The result was, not surprisingly, a lot of unhappy kiddos as they opened gifts containing half-eaten sandwiches, blackened bananas, and other inappropropriate gifts for anyone, let alone, kids. Besides the fact that this was, in my opinion, mean, maybe even cruel, surprisingly the reactions the kids gave varied a bit.
I wouldn't say any of the kids were happy, but some threw all out fits, one made-do and ate the banana, and one offered to eat the half-eaten sandwich his sister had gotten and was crying about. So why the variations?
I think it's because some kids have more abundance in their lives than others. I don't mean that some kids have more things than others, because I think abundance resides in our hearts not our hands.
Now, I know kids love to get toys. They love to have new things-we all do. But deep down what kids want, what we all want, is to know every second of the day that we are loved and accepted just the way we are. To have the time and attention of those that we love. To be connected, involved, understood. And I would bet, that the kids on those videos who threw the biggest fits (one kid even screamed at his parent, "Suck my balls!" Yes. A kid not older than 10) are the ones who feel the least abundant.
Because kids whose parents habitually put their own needs in front of their children's, who criticize more than praise, who cart them off to other caregivers continuously, who give them things but then tell them to, "go and play", who have never watched a kid's television show with them, or played Barbies (especially when they really didn't feel like it) or catch, or video games, or made them playdough or simply just spend time, every day, with them may always believe, may even rely on gifts, to fill the hole inside them where abundance is supposed to be. And toys will not always do the trick, because I believe that a child who grows up without abundance will grow up to fill that hole with much more dangerous things, like drugs and alcohol.
So this Christmas, give all the gifts you want, I will too. But take some time to look into the eyes of your children, into the eyes of the ones that you love, and give them not just the Christmas spirit, but yours.
I wish you all much abundance this holiday.
About a week ago, I saw a video from the Jimmy Kimmel Show, in which he asked parents, his viewers, to tell their children that they were going to open an early Christmas present. The catch was, Jimmy Kimmel told the viewers to put something quite awful in the gift and then watch their child's reaction. The result was, not surprisingly, a lot of unhappy kiddos as they opened gifts containing half-eaten sandwiches, blackened bananas, and other inappropropriate gifts for anyone, let alone, kids. Besides the fact that this was, in my opinion, mean, maybe even cruel, surprisingly the reactions the kids gave varied a bit.
I wouldn't say any of the kids were happy, but some threw all out fits, one made-do and ate the banana, and one offered to eat the half-eaten sandwich his sister had gotten and was crying about. So why the variations?
I think it's because some kids have more abundance in their lives than others. I don't mean that some kids have more things than others, because I think abundance resides in our hearts not our hands.
Now, I know kids love to get toys. They love to have new things-we all do. But deep down what kids want, what we all want, is to know every second of the day that we are loved and accepted just the way we are. To have the time and attention of those that we love. To be connected, involved, understood. And I would bet, that the kids on those videos who threw the biggest fits (one kid even screamed at his parent, "Suck my balls!" Yes. A kid not older than 10) are the ones who feel the least abundant.
Because kids whose parents habitually put their own needs in front of their children's, who criticize more than praise, who cart them off to other caregivers continuously, who give them things but then tell them to, "go and play", who have never watched a kid's television show with them, or played Barbies (especially when they really didn't feel like it) or catch, or video games, or made them playdough or simply just spend time, every day, with them may always believe, may even rely on gifts, to fill the hole inside them where abundance is supposed to be. And toys will not always do the trick, because I believe that a child who grows up without abundance will grow up to fill that hole with much more dangerous things, like drugs and alcohol.
So this Christmas, give all the gifts you want, I will too. But take some time to look into the eyes of your children, into the eyes of the ones that you love, and give them not just the Christmas spirit, but yours.
I wish you all much abundance this holiday.
1 comment:
This made me a bit teary. It's true.I can attest to it the way I grew up and especially the way husband grew up, that if a parent is always telling the kid to go play (my mom's favorite: "get out of my hair")then the kid feels rejected. Husband's mom just threw money and gifts at him but never attended any events, like football games, or spent any real quality time with him. We know how that has affected us.
Here's to not repeating those mistakes! *snuggles my boy* <3 R
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