KJ Dellantonia, the author of this article, is writing as a parent who also has young kids of her own. Her opinion of course, is how the title explains all. Dellantonia doesn't agree with the idea of a holiday list because of the fact that it would bring kids' hopes up for gifts that is just unbelievable. This article was written for those people who are contemplating what is best for their children, whether "spoiling them rotten" by using a holiday list is the best or not. I believe Dellantonia was writing this article because she wanted to ask for an opinion of the public whether it would be best in the interest of the children, to allow them to write their own holiday gift lists. She wanted to persuade people that maybe allowing this to happen could habitually affect their child in a way where they grow higher expectations when it comes to the winter holidays. The tone throughout this whole article, I feel, is a little of a questioning to the readers, whether it would be better for kids to do specifically this or that. Reading through the article, I personally compared it to the book, "Parenting with Love and Logic" by Foster Cline and Jim Fay. According to the book, when it comes to gift giving, it gives five rules:
1. If your child shows little appreciation for gifts, give less.
2. All kids should be equally loved and treated equally. however, equal treatment does not always mean equal gifts.
3. Don't buy into marketing hype.
4. Be creative about opening gifts.
5. Teach your child the joy of giving.
Ironically, what the article has been saying is against many of the rules the book has given. According to the book, gifts are supposed to be given as a reward of a child's accomplishments. However with Christmas, gifts have been nothing but a overdone ritual that just results in a child becoming spoiled with many unearned gifts.
Here's the link to the article: LINK from the NYTIMES articles.
Tell me what you think.
