A surprising lesson my kids learned on giving instead of whining, ‘Gimme that!’

Recently, my dad allowed one out of my four children to open his Christmas present early. My parents came for Thanksgiving and went ahead and delivered their gifts ahead of time so they wouldn’t have to mail them. The adults knew the reasoning: This particular gift was suitable to go around the tree for the season.

When my other kids found out he was the only one who got to open his gift early, they whined and whined and whined. When they found out they had to wait until Christmas to open theirs, they grew bitter as Will carried his over to the tree.

Last night, we let Will open his gift, and before his eyes was a Lionel Polar Express train from his train-loving grandpa. His eyes grew wide as he unboxed it. With a big smile on his face, he began putting the tracks together.

“Why, Mom? It’s not fair!” My 12-year-old sounded like a broken record sitting on the couch watching Will in delight.

“You never let me open gifts at the beginning of December!” My 8-year-old cried while petting our new purring kitty Jak Jak (who was, in fact, a gift to our family a few months ago!).

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