On the eve of the main holiday of the year, parents often face a dilemma: how to choose a gift so that it not only pleases the child, but also benefits development. The Institute of Education has issued a memo with the most pressing issues that haunt before the celebration of the New Year.
Specialists share recommendations for choosing a gift for children of all ages, in particular for teenagers, and also talk about the mechanisms for combining pleasant emotions and benefits for the development of the child.
The authors of the memo conditionally divide children into groups, depending on their age preferences. In their opinion, for a child from 1 to 3, it is not so much the gift itself that is important, but its packaging. Older children will find gifts that will allow them to play in the adult world. Indeed, at the age of 3 years, they begin to try on roles. Children of older preschool age pay attention to the creative component of the gift, that is, the opportunity to show imagination when using it.
For children of school age, the perception of the world is shifting from creativity to knowledge, so the most interesting and relevant gift for them will be a board game. At this age, the child clearly demonstrates his hobbies. With teenagers, everything is different: here the task is much more difficult. Experts recommend discussing with the child what he wants for the New Year. During this period, things that will help impress others are important, so parents of teenagers cannot always give a gift that meets expectations.
In the memo of the Institute of Education, a child and family psychologist, author of articles and books on the psychology of children and adolescents, editor-in-chief of the Family and School magazine Anastasia Savina shared useful tips on how to teach a child to appreciate things. The psychologist noted that the “four gifts” rule comes to the aid of parents, according to which the child receives 4 gifts at once, each of which answers its own question: what you want, what you need, what to wear and what to read.
“In the end, you will see that the Rule of Four gifts turned out to be much more meaningful, and not random. Not the gifts that we often buy just to give something and soon forget it in the closet or put it on a dust collection shelf,” Anastasia emphasizes.
According to the expert, following the rule helps to strike a balance between the desires of parents and children, benefit and joy. Opening each of the 4 gifts, the child experiences a range of emotions. Parents, in turn, are freed from the difficulty of choosing one gift that is suitable in all respects.
