This Holidays

Writen by Rondi Davis

What Every Parent Needs to Know Before They Start Their Holiday Shopping

At a class I was teaching last week, I asked a group of kids, "What would you want for Christmas, if your parents could give you anything in the world that doesn't cost money?" Their requests were simple: a friend, world peace, a cure for my mom's cancer.

What do kids really want for Christmas? They want you. Kids today are feeling overwhelmed by the world around them. They are bombarded with media messages 24 hours a day. During the course of a year, a child watches more than 30,000 TV commercials. One quarter of the children under the age of two has a TV in their bedroom (according to the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.) We are living in a consumption based society. We buy things to make us feel good.

Remember for a moment what was important from your own childhood. Was it baking cookies with your grandmother or building a snowman with your dad? This holiday season, we need to stop, slow down, and see the world through a child's eyes.

Fulfillment is in the journey, more so than the destination. We've forgotten how simple things can affect us. Family traditions should be familiar, not monumental. Grab a few minutes of time whenever you can. Reconnect with your children. This doesn't require more time, just shifting the focus of the time we already have. Taking a walk with your kids or baking a batch of cookies together is much more rewarding and less time consuming than running your children from one activity to another and grabbing a fast food dinner on the way home.

This holiday season, share the gift of time spent together. It's not about spending money. It's not about the latest gadget or video game. It's about creating celebrations and lasting traditions that come from simple gestures of the heart.

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About the Author: Rondi Hillstrom Davis is the co-author of the award-winning book Together: Creating Family Traditions. To check out her website that's jam packed with family ideas, visit http://www.togetherparenting.com

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