This Christmas has come and gone and I think I Santa did a great job in the gift giving department. Before the day was over my husband looked at me and said, you are selfish… There were a couple of gifts he claims I got to benefit me as well as our children. I had to stop and think about it for a second and he might have had a tiny point there! For starters we give our children throughout the year and during the holidays we focus more on family and spending quality time together with less emphasis on gifts. Now if the children would like something they haven’t gotten and they are deserving of it we will get them their “wish” for Christmas.
I am the mother of two boys and two girls, ages 4, 13, 15, and 16! My preschooler is literally a teenager trapped in a four year old body and what can I say… He get’s it honestly being the youngest of three teenagers. He’s always around adults and doesn’t socialize with other children his age very often. When I got my iPad 2 last year mini me (the four year old) literally took it over. I had a bunch of Preschool learning apps, Avengers Apps, lots of games apps downloaded to it. He’d watch Netflix movies on it and I found myself asking to use my iPad and sharing it with him. He didn’t like to share and I didn’t much either, not this social media mommy! It got to the point where I felt I needed to get him his own tablet.
Mini wanted to use the iPad constantly and doesn’t know how to wait patiently. I’ve been through many meltdowns when he couldn’t use the iPad. I’ve been called “The Best Downloader Ever” He loves Apps! I’ve been accused of treating him unfairly and not sharing. This kid got so good, he memorized my password and didn’t even need me anymore to unlock it and successfully downloaded $70.00 worth of in-app purchases to my iPad. I got a huge lesson in using my (in-app) restrictions that day! After researching all the available children’s tablets I opted to go with the iPad 2 because I know he’ll continue to grow with it being he’s so advanced for his age and he also can navigate his way around the iPad 2 with no problem. He’s had a good year of experience using mine.
I customized his iPad cover with his name and Marvel Avengers stickers, I made his iPad wallpaper Marvel Avengers and deleted every app that he installed on my iPad 2 and downloaded it to his! I even got matching Marvel Avengers headphones so he can play all his games, watch movies and the best part is I don’t have to hear any of it. Mama is happy and mini me is happy! So I guess that’s one selfish gift I can take full responsibility for. My daughter turned 13 on the 23rd. I took her on a shopping spree and surprised her on Christmas Day with some more cute accessories. I make it a point to try and celebrate her birthday independent of Christmas. My two older teen children received debit cards since I opened new checking accounts for them. I deposited Christmas cash in their accounts and they can go shopping for what ever they would like. In the long run, I hope to teach them how to budget effectively and to value money!
After all is said and done my children were very satisfied with their gifts so much that when Mini Me got his iPad 2 he said… “Okay, you can have your iPad back now. I have my own!” I couldn’t do anything but bust out laughing. There may be some lessons to learn from certain gifts that I gave so, if I have given selfishly this Christmas I don’t regret it one bit! I give myself an A+ in iPad 2 Marvel Avengers Customization. Take a look!
