Best Gifts for Kids of Worn-Out Parents
We’ve made the case for what not to give the kids of exhausted parents this holiday season. To recap, we urged would-be gift givers to take into account:
Complexity of assembly & clarity of instructions
Parental vigilance required
Decibel level
Clean-up & storage
So, what kinds of gifts should we give not only to bring joy to the kids in our lives, but to ease the wear and tear on their worn-out parents? We have put together a 2022 Best Gifts List which we think fit the bill and avoid adding to tired parent’s mental load.
Plants
This gift helpfully teaches little ones a bit about caregiving with less clean-up than that new puppy they’ve been asking for. My favorite plant for kids? The Venus Fly Trap. My kids are I were delighted to find that these hungry little plants will indeed snap up bugs right in front you. Adding to the fun, your kids will need to search for bug snacks in the corners of your house or backyard. Importantly, this gift actually looks pretty on a shelf, versus adding to visual clutter.
Book Series
I want to know…where is children’s author Rick Riordan’s Presidential Medal of Freedom?! I have tried and failed to get through his books myself, but no matter, because his fantasy novels have bought me hundreds of hours of uninterrupted quiet time (and, oh, yeah, sparked my daughter’s love of reading). We’ve also recently been enjoying The Mysterious Benedict Society book series. The Wes Anderson-esque TV series by the same name is a crowd pleaser for all ages and will have your little one yelling at the TV about all the things they got wrong from the books. Tip: It’s much easier to pick out a good series in-person where kids can peruse the covers and leaf through pages. Consider a gift certificate to a local bookshop and make an afternoon of it!
Playing Cards+
Every year my mother-in-law gives my kids fresh decks of playing cards. My kids love this little tradition. Years ago, she taught them how to play her favorite card game, Spite and Malice. The kids later enjoyed teaching me, and this has become our regular “filler activity”—what we do when folks are getting bored and grumpy, whether waiting out the rain, or waiting for our food at a restaurant. If you pick-up this idea, go beyond "Go Fish" and teach the kids a game that grown-ups will get excited to play too.
Costumes
A good costume can spark songwriting, scriptwriting, designing sets from cardboard boxes, and best of all, performing for tired parents who get to take it all in while sitting on the couch. Don’t bother with the big, packaged dress-up sets at the toy store. Opt for a variety of basic Halloween costumes that are always on sale online. These costumes will also come in handy on “Book Character Day”, “Career Dress-Up Day,” and the dozens of other “special” school days that seem hell bent on making parents’ mornings harder.
Tickets
Give your grandkids, nieces, and nephews tickets to something you can do together, and in turn, give their parents a much-needed date night. I know we all want to give children the big gifts that lead to children’s ooohs and ahhhs, but an outing with you is something they’ll remember beyond the chaos of Christmas morning. If you want to make sure the kids have something to unwrap, get a little creative. Taking them to the movies? Fill a box with microwavable popcorn and their favorite movie candies.
Secret stuff
An electronic, password protected piggy bank is one of my son’s prized possessions. He loves having a secret passcode, and we love that it stores stuff that we’re not sure what to do with, like his coin collection and fake poop. Both of my kids are also really into journals that have a lock and key. Anything that can tap into a child’s desire for autonomy and getting a leg up on their parents will be a big hit.
What about Legos or other intricate building kits?
People have strong opinions on Lego (not using the incorrect plural, “Legos”, here is hopefully building my credibility on the topic). Whether or not Lego increases or decreases the mental load for parents, is completely dependent on the family. For years, Lego were the bane of my existence. Maya Rudolph nailed it in the Lego movie when she stepped on an errant Lego block and compared it to childbirth. After years of building practice, thousands of pages of instructions, and with every imaginable surface of my house now covered in Lego creations or Lego storage, we are now finally reaping the rewards. As I write this on a Saturday morning, my 7- and 10-year-old are happily working independently on a 900-piece Lego cherry blossom bonsai tree. All to say, this is a gift where I’d recommend checking in with the parents first to see where the family is on their Lego journey.
Facts:
Research by our Contributing Editor Haley Swenson shows that while dads are increasing the time they spend playing with their children, they still lag significantly behind moms when it comes to less exciting activities—like time spent on educational activities, discipline, doing chores, and managing activities and schedules.
We like these gifts because they allow mom to join in the fun too, and minimize the work she might take on herself, like cleaning up, storing, and mediating!
