Gifts For A Child
Gift Ideas for Children
Gretchen Heuring | ElderThink | 10.28.10
Childhood is shorter than ever these days. I think it is now between ages 3 and 9 but I'm not sure. I asked a psychologist friend of mine when a child stops being a child and she said "when he stops being selfish." I think I should look for a better answer.
It's a delight to give gifts to children. They love surprises and opening the package is almost as much fun as the gift itself. We want to give them things that will keep their attention and that are well-made.
Childhood is a time when little boys want to be heros or maybe drive a truck, and little girls want to be like their mother. The world is a simple place and they belong in it. At this age, energy and imagination seem boundless.
Gifts for Little Girls
Little girls certainly enjoy brainy toys today but they also love dolls, tea sets, doll houses, and dress up clothes. When my granddaughters were six or so, I went to a fabric store and bought them sparkley and velvety fabric pieces in different sizes. They loved them and played with them often.
Children play in fantasy worlds much more than we might realize. In a local library program I read Charlott's Web to children over a period of weeks. I was delighted to find some of them playing the various roles from the book while they waited for their rides home. Now there is a Charlotte's Web Doll that we can buy over the web and have wrapped and delivered. So easy to make a little girl happy...
Gifts for Little Boys
My sons are all grown men now, but one of them, whose name I promised not to mention, wore a Batman cape every day for months and months when he was a little boy. Sometimes we couldn't find his true cape and then he wore a tea towel pinned to his shoulders. It looked exactly the same to him. My Batman.
Little boys can spend hours building wonderful environments with Legos and matchbox cars. They love their red wagons and fire trucks. They will strut around wearing a belt laden with toy hammers and wrenches. Surprisingly, they also snuggle cuddly toys especially at bedtime.
Childhood flashes by so fast. Knowing children during these ages three to eight, there is a chance for us older folks to rediscover wonder and surprise and even magic.
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