Tuesday, December 21, 2010

giving

Aliza has a very generous heart.  She gets that from me.

She's very caught up in the spirit of giving right now.  She dug up some toys and books in her room, wrapped them up, slapped labels on them with her friends' names, and stuck them under the tree.  She's quite tickled with herself that Christmas will be extra merry for those little girls.

This drives me crazy.

These are toys that I bought for her, or grandma and grandpa did.  Often they are things that should have a more significant value to her.  Sometimes it's an American Girl accessory that I know was ridiculously expensive.  Once she tried to give away the stuffed puppy her great-grandma gave her when she was a baby.

I've told her she should save her money and buy new things for her friends, if she really wants to give presents.  She just shrugs.  She doesn't have much money, since most of her allowance goes toward gum.

Gum that she tends to give away to her friends.

I'm trying to decide whether it's absolutely precious that she does this, or whether it's frivolous.  The spirit of giving is a great thing, but the fact that she apparently doesn't value gifts we give her is annoying.

Or am I thinking about this the wrong way?  Maybe I should get over being irritated and just let her give away all her things.  Commend her for being so generous.  Maybe I'm being stingy.

Maybe she doesn't get her kindhearted-ness from me.

On a completely separate note, AJ made a joke yesterday.

He had the day off of therapy so he had some free time, and he watched quite a bit of Dora.  Late in the afternoon he got a little silly, and he put his little hand in front of his mouth like he sometimes does when he's being shy, and he said "Hi.  I'm the map."  (Four words!)  Just like in practically every episode of Dora.

Then he'd fall over in a pile of giggles.

3 comments:

Salt in Suburbia said...

I love the joke and I love Aliza's giving spirit even more. It's wonderful that she values her friends more than her things (but you'll have teach her about the gift giver's feelings too). Social interactions. Totally complex :-)

Anonymous said...

I remember when I was about 5 years old, when I got my first box of envelopes to donate to our church. I was so proud and excited! The next Sunday, I emptied my piggy bank and stuffed every last dollar and coin into the first envelope. My mom sat me down and explained the "proper" amount to give and told me that I didn't have to give everything I had. I had no concept of the value of money and just wanted to be a big girl like everyone else.

Joey Lynn Resciniti said...

Julia wants to make presents for everyone, maybe you could figure out some way for Aliza to create gifts for her friends. When all else fails, explain the concept of "re-gifting," maybe that will get her to save some of the gum money.

Yay for the map too!

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