The dangers of manufactured childhood magic

Comments · 3.5K

• HE

  @HeyitsMel2913 · 2 years ago

  “Your children need your presence more than your presents.”

  4.6K

• TA

  @taranykyforiak1753 · 2 years ago

  If everything is "magical", then nothing is.

  10K

• MA

  @margaretbertoldi2271 · 2 years ago

  The best part of my birthday every year was my mom snuggling me in bed the night before or the night of my birthday telling me “the story of the day I was born”.  I do the same for my son.

  1.7K

• IV

  @IvanaRassija · 2 years ago (edited)

  Friends of mine have a preschool kid. They spend a two month vacation on a tropical island as a family of three, doing all kind of amazing things (swimming with dolphins etc…). When they came back I asked the kid what his favorite moment was. Kid thought about it for a couple of minutes then told me “playing Uno with my parents” and proceeded to tell me all the cool variations of Uno they played. <br><br>Now every time they try to do something <b>unnecessarily</b> special for him I remind them of this.<br><br>Edit: Just to clarify, some people missed my point: it’s not about the vacation. It’s about the moments when they go out of their way to plan something <b>specifically for him</b> but don’t consider what he actually wants or needs. (This doesn’t happen too often, and yes, the vacation was not specifically for him.)

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• LA

  @lapetitemandie · 2 years ago

  The thing is: its not for the kids its for the views and in a couple of years they will know it

  5.1K

• NI

  @Nika-ig9zi · 2 years ago

  When I told my mom that I was bored, she usually gave me extra chores, like unloading the dishwasher... I quickly learned how to find something to occupy me on my own... 😅

  731

• GE

  @gem9535 · 2 years ago

  I don&apos;t mind spoiling kids. I think part of the fun of having kids is spoiling them for good behavior and just &apos;cause you love them, but these &apos;birthday parties&apos; and the like always felt like parents flexing than an actual celebration.

  3.9K

• HK

  @hkandm4s23 · 2 years ago (edited)

  Ok therapist here. &nbsp;In general, yes i agree with most of what you are saying. &nbsp;Boredom is essential for developing creativity. &nbsp;But quick point here.... the &quot;dopamine is only released with dad&quot; thing is absolute BS. Neurobiology it&apos;s far more individual and complex than a 30 second tik tok can explain. This pinterest parenting thing is also a function of wealth, privledge and social isolation. &nbsp;Far more often children aren&apos;t played with enough by their parents, parents are busy and unable to do this and children instead are over-entertained by screens. &nbsp;Provide safe environments for supervised individual exploration for young babies and toddlers. &nbsp;For older kids set firm boundaries around technology and instead of setting up aestheticly pleasing activities and buying tons of garbage, &nbsp;get down and play with your kids the way they want to. &nbsp;Support what they want to do. &nbsp;Good parenting is far less complex than most think. If you are worried you might be doing it wrong, you are probably doing a good job. Social media isn&apos;t reality.

  11K

• CA

  @CarmindyOnline · 2 years ago

  I was born in 1982. As a kid my Mom would bake me a birthday cake from a box mix. We&apos;d get a couple of pizzas for dinner. I&apos;d invite over a few friends who would bring maybe a $20 gift for me to enjoy and at that time the gift was basically seen by the parents as a way to &quot;pay&quot; for the FREE BABYSITTING service my MOM would be providing for the day (and sometimes overnight). We&apos;d eat pizza and cake then afterwards we&apos;d watch a movie sitting on our sleeping bags all over the living room floor. The biggest concern back then was making sure not to spill anything on the carpet so my Mom would lay down a couple old bed sheets and we&apos;d put our sleeping bags on top. It probably cost my parents $100 MAX. We didn&apos;t do goody bags. Getting free food and cake WAS the goody.

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• MB

  @MB-vi8zp · 2 years ago

  &quot;all the birthday parties had the theme of.. birthday party&quot; lmao it&apos;s true though 😂

  1.2K

• CH

  @Charlie-im9iv · 2 years ago

  I&apos;m a preschool teacher. I can&apos;t tell you how many kids have vacationed in Hawaii, and when they return, the part the kids remember is the hotel

  3.9K

• EM

  @emmarosestrong · 1 year ago

  My mom has always been a gardener and one time I took one of her dirt piles and dug out a seat and windshield and found sticks for my gas and break pedals, gear shift, and steering wheel. I had SO much fun in my little dirt race car and I never would’ve had that if I had a full day of structured activities instead!

  165