Giving gifts to children is much more challenging than we first think. A Christmas, birthday or children's day gift is not only important for joy, it also has a deeper message. Of course, getting something you've wanted for a long time is awesome, but what makes it even more awesome is the message that we love you.
Psychology has long been concerned with the psychology of gift giving. It has been scientifically proven that gifts are given differently in different cultures, but men and women also give gifts differently. In the Far East, for example, the individual exists much more in a community space, individuality is less emphasized, which parallels the fact that the importance of the gift decreases. And perhaps we are not surprised that women give gifts much more practically than men.
There is also a significant difference between whether an adult or a child receives the gift. In many ways, children are wiser than adults, even if they often can't put their thoughts into words as accurately. For children, a gift is a much deeper and more complex experience than for adults, and its meaning is also more complex.
A gift message
A gift for a small child carries several messages. Perhaps the most important thing is that they pay attention to me. Provided, of course, that the parents buy the gift that the child really wants and not something completely different. That's why it's important to sometimes put practicality aside and not buy a big coat in winter, but Harry Potter shorts, if that's what the child dreams of.
A gift for a child also means that I am safe, because they care about me. Of course, this message applies above all to the younger ones, less so to a teenager who spends more and more time with his friends and slowly becomes an independent person. At the same time, the gift also means that I am good, since I deserved this surprise.
The psychology of packaging
For most people, not only the gift is important, but also how it is wrapped. And the reason for this is that humans are such a complex organism that is sensitive not only to functionality, but also to beauty. Just as a beautiful poem or a painting can captivate us, a beautiful packaging does not leave most of us cold either.
In addition to the aesthetics, the packaging also has a secondary message, which means that they love us, since they paid attention to even such a small thing for our pleasure. They spent money and time on us to get something really beautiful. This is also why personalized gifts for children or unique gifts for children are a lucky choice.
The importance of themed gifts
We can also distinguish between gifts in that there are one-off and continuous surprises. Of course, the former is more common, which can be anything, a nice shoe, clothes, LEGO, board game, etc., in short, anything. The other is parts of a series, i.e. a collection.
This can be a book, such as Bob the buileder or the Graffalo, a musical series or even a computer game series. A beautiful and exciting book, such as Lúna's children, is a great gift for teenage girls, but a series is a bit different, as it is also about waiting. And waiting for something is a great thing.
The message of the thematic series is that we want to create something whole, to have everything in the collection. Of course, it doesn't hurt to be good during the waiting period, so that we really deserve the gift, which can even be an educational aid for the parents. And the gift received is also a reward and recognition.
From tiny babies to bearded teenagers
Of course, a Christmas, birthday or children's day gift also depends on age, as we give different things to a nursary age kid, to a preschooler or elementary school student, and something else to an older teenager. The situation is usually more complicated with the latter. A small child is typically happy about everything, because everything is still unknown and new to him, so every surprise is also magic.
Unfortunately, this magic is less effective for teenagers, and it is also more difficult to find out exactly what they want. Often the cherished dreams are hidden because the teenager hides them from the parents, or because he is ashamed, or because he knows that the parents would not be happy about it.
There are few fathers or mothers who, with a smiling face, buy their child a tattoo coupon, a scooter considered life-threatening or a ticket to a concert where obviously "everyone is drunk, on drugs and anyway, what kind of music is this". A gift for adolescent boys and girls is therefore a more difficult matter than for children.
Still, most psychologists are of the opinion that we should buy the child what he wants, if in return he is willing to listen to us and behave normally in everyday life. Prohibition does not usually lead to results, since there is a good chance that a teenager will get what he wants, at most without the knowledge of the parents. And this also has a secondary message: I don't even need you.
Name day, birthday, Christmas surprise for children
What kind of surprise comes up for what occasion is, on the one hand, a cultural code, and on the other, it depends on the narrower community in which we are socialized, but it is also determined by fashion. In many places, for example, the name day is a more important holiday than the birthday, and in other places the exact opposite is true. Programs are organized for Children's Day in one country, and gifts are given in others.
Even Christmas presents for children are no exception to this, since in many places the emphasis is on the religious content and not on giving gifts to each other. There is one common point in the various occasions: and this is the gesture, which is nothing more than paying attention to the other person. From this point of view, it doesn't matter whether we buy a high-value gift or make a surprise ourselves. The important thing is that the other person feels cared for.
