The holidays are a time when people can really show their generosity, but sometimes the urge to heap gifts on family can cause chaos and feed into overconsumption. One Redditor turned to their community for advice on balancing providing wonderful gifts for their children and maintaining their principles on consumption.
In the r/Anticonsumption subreddit, the parent wrote: "I try to be very mindful of my consumption habits, but almost two years ago I had twins and things have been very chaotic ever since. I felt like I was finally getting a grip on things until this Christmas when very well-meaning family members got the boys many gifts. I just feel completely overwhelmed and weirdly guilty. Any advice?"
The comments were flooded with helpful suggestions that were not only mindful but often practical.
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"When it comes to what other people do, you cannot control them," one person wrote. "You can do your best to communicate kindly the values of your family and hope that they will listen, but otherwise you just gotta know that your daily habits are what are in your control." They further suggested focusing on practical gifts, including shoes or clothes, or experiences, such as a trip to a theme park, and letting family and friends buy "junk."
Another pointed out that it can be difficult to convey the idea of overconsumption to a toddler, so, "Until your kids get it, do what you must to survive and keep your stress minimal. I always returned what I could from their gifts and then gave away everything else."
Several people recommended regularly evaluating what toys are being played with and donating or passing along the ones that are ignored to those in need or a Buy Nothing group.
Wanting to curb consumption is a smart decision, first and foremost as a money saver, but it also has hidden benefits. Last year, researchers found having fewer toys is beneficial to kids, as it promotes deeper connections with what they already have and encourages imaginative play and thinking. Plus, reducing buying toys that may soon wind up in landfills helps cut back on plastic, which takes hundreds of years to break down and releases pollutants as it does.
Some companies are catching on to the need to reduce consumption, including Lucky Jack, which rents toys to families for a monthly fee and can save them $1,500 over 10 years. Lego also has a program called Replay, which allows people to send in old Lego blocks. It then cleans and distributes them to children in need.
In the comments, one person offered an excellent summation of how to tackle the problem. "The worst thing you can do is not do anything and have a bunch of toys taking up space that aren't being used," they wrote.
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