“All I Want For Christmas,” sang Don Gardner, all those years ago, “…is my two front teeth…” because if he had them, he could whistle, pronounce tongue-twisters, and wish “Merry Christmas” to one and all.
Today’s children – even when they have a niggling suspicion that Father Christmas is just their tall, dark and handsome uncle togged up in the obligatory costume with a pillow for added girth – would never settle for that.
Perhaps it’s the “gimme” mentality promoted on the media; perhaps it’s because today’s children have lost the healthy, wholesome attitude of “goodwill to all” that expects nothing tangible or pecuniary. The fact remains that most children look upon Christmas as the perfect excuse for emotionally blackmailing parents who think that quantity is a good substitute for quality time.
Just listen to the breathless whisperings of children as they pass shop-windows, decorated enticingly as soon as the “back to school” frippery is removed. “I want”, followed by a litany of perennial classics and the current in toys, is a sure-fire bet to be included in their monologues.
Indeed, one particularly street-savvy nine-year-old who shall be nameless put it in a nutshell when he said “I want a whole toy shop so I can play with what I want and give my friends the toys I don’t like…” Do we have the makings of an investment manager here? Someone with an even wilder imagination wants the lamp of Aladdin.
Some sophisticated young ladies – who spend hours conniving stories about their Winx and Bratz and Barbies with their friends, but balk at being told to tidy their rooms – pretend that they have outgrown the “dolly” phase.
So they ask for clothes. Not your ordinary three pairs of jeans for €15, mind; they plump for designer makes that “everyone except they” have, and not many of them understand – or care – that the price would have got them at least three different interchangeable outfits.
Cosmetics and toiletries appear to be gaining popularity, too – and this includes falsies and hair swatches, which they can pretend are extensions.
Some children, with their parents’ blessing, end up looking like little call-girls; but who cares? It’s Christmas, after all.
Boys, especially the ’tweens, seem to prefer techie gadgets. They want Blackberries and iPods, since they already have personal stereos, consoles, and probably their own television sets too.
Some children want music or games’ CDs, and others want a personal computer of their own so they don’t have to await their turn at the one they have at home, after older siblings. It comes as a breath of fresh air to learn that many, many children want books for Christmas, too.One child said she wanted a set of “many dolls” so that she could sew clothes for them and make her own crib scene. Asked what she would do with the toys during the rest of the year she diplomatically said that she “might” make different clothes for them. Another, who has had health problems for quite some time, wants for nothing except perfect health.
“That would be the greatest present of all! And, I promise, I would never, ever ask for anything else.”
Young girls and boys, very often, ask for pets – thinking that these are expendable, and the minute that grooming them and taking them out for walks interferes with the children’s own social life, they can be foisted off on someone else – if not actually discarded like squeezed out lemon-halves.
There are children who ask for intangible things, besides run-of-the-mill presents. “I don’t want to be fat!” said one girl wistfully; as if being thin was all that mattered (she is a perfectly healthy, intelligent, beautiful child).
Some want a room of their own, either because they do not get on well with their sibling(s), or because they think this will give them more personal freedom.
Kimberly, (and to protect her, I am not using her real name) aged nine, told me she wants to be “Famous” – I could sense the capital letter – “like Girls Aloud and Victoria”. I asked her how this was going to come about, since no one except Paris Hilton and her ilk, are famous for being famous. Ah! This child knows it all. She’s into modelling, singing and drama lessons. Do we have another diva in the making?
An adjunct to this was the number of children who want “to be on television” – not as a part of the audience, but presenting their own shows, or acting in drama series.
Whom do we blame for this? Over-indulgent parents, ready to fork out the sough for a child’s every whim? The usual scapegoat, i.e. the media? Today’s increasingly secular way of life? The child’s peer group – not recognising that even good habits may be the result of peer pressure.
Children as young as 10 have been known to ask for corrective surgery to straighten out barely discernable kinks in noses. Some want to remove freckles, or dye their hair a different colour. Some beg for laser treatment of arms and legs – and some want coloured contact lenses even if they don’t normally have prescription glasses.
Unfortunately, there are children who have deeper, more poignant wishes than these. They want their families to be whole again – even though they know it’s well-nigh impossible because both parents now have different partners.
One little boy said that for Christmas Day at least, he wants “real food” and not cereal or pizza. Another child, just eight years old, said he wants his parents to stop smoking so that they would not “cough and become sick and die”.
Asked about whether they would consider donating some of their own gifts to children who are not in a position to get anything, most children interviewed for this feature admitted they would have to think about it. Only a few gave an unconditionally affirmative reply – and even then, some of them said that however, they would be the ones to select what to give away, not the potential recipients.