Should a Child Open Birthday Presents in Front of the Guests?
Posted: Saturday, August 22, 2009
by Carolyn Tytler
In the minds of most children, a birthday is the most important event of the year. Christmas may be a close second choice, but on that day he must share the joy, the excitement, the attention and the gifting with other people.
On his birthday, unless he's one of twins, triplets or other multiple births, the focus of attention is all on him. He wants everything to go well on his special day, and because of this extreme motivation, the days preceding the big day and the birthday itself, provide the wise parent with many teachable moments.
The traditional ceremony of " the opening the gifts," involves particular social skills and the birthday party provides an excellent opportunity for the young host to practice these, acting on prior, detailed instructions from his parents.
There are additional benefits be gained from the exercise as well:
* It provides a period of relative calm between games, food, birthday cake, and more games. It gives the adults a chance for a fast tidy-up before the next round of activities.
* It may be the only time the guests are sitting still enough to take a few pictures.
* Siblings, who may be feeling neglected, can be assigned important jobs such as passing the gifts carefully to the birthday child, or collecting used ribbon, wrapping and gift bags.
* The birthday child as well as the young guests have an opportunity to review the correct protocol for giving, receiving and opening gifts . The presents must be handled gently and the cards opened and read before the gifts..
* Each donor immediately receives a gracious "thank you", and a comment on something special about his or her gift. This eliminates the necessity for writing thank-you notes later.
* If any exchanges are needed, the adults can take note of them and advise the parents when they come to collect their child. It's easier than trying to track them down later.
* The other children have the fun of seeing how their particular gift made their friend happy. They will pass the message on to their gratified parents.
During the course of his life, the child will be the recipient and the donor of gifts on many special occasions: birthdays, graduations, engagement parties, Stag and Doe gatherings, weddings, and housewarmings among others. The earlier be begins to practice carrying out these social skills comfortably, graciously and well, the better.
Of all the lessons parents must teach their child during the formative years, receiving and opening gifts in public is one of the easiest. Seldom they will they be privileged to have a more motivated learner.
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