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There are no words - parenting edition

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by BurnsWhenIPee, Apr 19, 2015.

  1. RecoveringJournalist

    RecoveringJournalist Well-Known Member

    There's a flip side too...

    We've been to Disney three times in the last five years and we've been mocked for it. Just recently we got, "Oh, you're going to Mount Rushmore this summer, I thought you ONLY went to Disney World..."

    I don't care, my wife doesn't care, but it's proof that if you're trying do something for the wrong reasons, it will seem like you just can't win.
     
  2. bigpern23

    bigpern23 Well-Known Member

    Thanks, Big Circ!
     
  3. RecoveringJournalist

    RecoveringJournalist Well-Known Member

    If you go to Disney, and granted, it may not be for everyone, you do your research and you have to be smart about when you go. That will save a shitload of money, you won't have to deal with lines or crazy heat.
     
  4. poindexter

    poindexter Well-Known Member

    My favorite post of the year.
     
    RecoveringJournalist likes this.
  5. JayFarrar

    JayFarrar Well-Known Member

    I guess I'm glad I don't have kids because I don't see anything terribly wrong with that note.

    My siblings and friends who have children all complain to a person on how much they hate the random shit their kids get at birthdays and Christmas.

    Just more junk that goes into a chest or a stuffed into a closet and never seen again. A fair chunk of what they get doesn't even come out of the package.

    Of course I also live with a person who provides a 20 item Christmas list with links and images of what she wants. And the first Christmas, I thought it was a bunch of bullshit but now, I think it is pretty spectacular as not all 20 items have to be purchased and I don't have to play the mind reading game of trying to figure out what she wants.
     
  6. bigpern23

    bigpern23 Well-Known Member

    The tone is pretty demanding and has a general air of ungratefulness. "We're going to return your shitty presents to get what we want, so make sure you give us the receipt to make sure we don't get gypped."
     
    Mr. Sunshine likes this.
  7. swingline

    swingline Well-Known Member

    Dick, any way you can sort of slip your wife a Valium every once in a while? She's gonna have a coronary.
     
  8. MisterCreosote

    MisterCreosote Well-Known Member

    In my admittedly limited experience so far, there is NOTHING good that can come out of requests/demands like this. No one ever listens, so the only thing it accomplishes is making you look like the asshole.

    In my family, there are a million boys, of which my son is the second-youngest, meaning he has enough hand-me-down clothes to literally never have to wear anything twice until he gets to adulthood. All of my relatives know this, too.

    As such, we've requested that no one buy him any more clothes, ever. And yet, the clothing gifts not only haven't stopped, they've increased. In fact, one side of the family has purchased for him, multiple times, the same outfits we inherited from the other side of the family.

    I've made it clear that it's akin to lighting a pile of money on fire, but if they won't listen, I won't harp on it. It's their problem.
     
  9. RecoveringJournalist

    RecoveringJournalist Well-Known Member

    I hate when people buy clothes as gifts for young kids. There are a few exceptions, but buy them toys or a book or something they can have fun with.
     
    murphyc likes this.
  10. zagoshe

    zagoshe Well-Known Member

    I understand the "let's be practical" side of things but here is what is lost in all of this nonsense:

    If is a GIFT -- it used to be the thought that counts.

    And if someone said "give me a receipt so I can return your shit for cash or something else" I'd reply "do you understand what a gift is? Now go fuck yourself."

    When did we lose our minds in this world?

    We are supposed to be happy when we receive a gift, no matter how small nor how big or expensive.

    Again, perhaps I am the fucked up one but I was always very happy when someone thought enough to give one my kids a gift no matter what it was.
     
  11. doctorquant

    doctorquant Well-Known Member

    I think I might have told this story 'round here, but it's still a classic.

    My wife's brother married a member of what I call the SKU tribe. She expects gifts to be from a very, very well-defined list (i.e., down to the SKU), and if you give her something that's not on that list, it's going to be returned/exchanged.

    My wife's mother, on the other hand, was decidedly NOT of that tribe. Wish lists, etc., greatly offended her sensibilities, so from day one theirs was an oil-and-water relationship vis-a-vis gift-giving (and pretty much everything else, too).

    One year my wife's mother splurged on nice sweater vests from The Gap for her three daughters. She also stumbled across, at a seconds outlet, an identical vest that she bought for daughter-in-law. So, OF COURSE, the day after Christmas daughter-in-law traipses off to the mall for an exchange. Only one problem: Hers came from the seconds outlet, and its price tag had modified to indicate such.

    Made for quite a frosty Boxing Day dinner! It was all I could do to not get down on the floor and laugh until my gums bled.
     
    LongTimeListener likes this.
  12. RecoveringJournalist

    RecoveringJournalist Well-Known Member

    I can't imagine buying a gift for a kid without asking them or their parents what they want.

    But I want to ask them, not be told what to buy.
     
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