Gift Dilemma

[darsynia]

You have a very close friend or a relative who lives very far away. This person sends your child a present bought from Amazon, which comes unwrapped. When you open the box to wrap the present, you find that the present is either too advanced cognitively (a memory card game for a 9 month old) or physically (a model airplane kit for a 3 year old) for

Comments

[anapaoli]

I can't see the link to see your example, but I would probably just give it to my daughter to play with anyway. My husband bought our baby a "laptop" that teaches Spanish or something, and she's only 7 months old, but she'll enjoy banging on the keyboard, like she does on our real laptop. Kids are adaptable.

[mikaboo]

Pretty much this.

[darsynia]

Oh, I basically spend most of every day interacting with her, I just can't figure out WHERE, considering a bouncy toy isn't the best for indoors and it's not the most ideal weather for playing outside, heh. I'm not concerned with MY time, but I guess concern as to whether my kid will like a toy she might not be able to play with at all means I'm lazy? OK.

[owlsarentaholes]

All kids are different, so having a child the same age doesn't necessarily mean anything. My kids were playing with Lego and Playmobil when they were way under the age range specified on those toys, for instance. I wouldn't have BOUGHT them for someone else's kids, but mine were perfectly capable. Your link didn't work, but if the toy you mentioned is what I think it is, I could totally see a 2 year old digging that.

Generally, I'd give my kid the toy that was sent for him/her. I could always put it away for later if s/he really couldn't do it at the time. I'd thank the giver and move on. My kids get so much at the holidays that one imperfect present isn't going to end them.

[s3a]

I'd just give her the present. Honestly, my daughter will either find a different way to play with things that are "above" her or she will surprise me and be much more capable of playing with it than I thought.

If your daughter has problems synchronizing her hands and feet, maybe it IS the perfect present because practicing with the ball will help teach her.

It really doesn't seem like a very big deal to me. Certainly not enough to say to the person who got my kid a gift "Hey, this present sucks."

[mangofandango]

I think I'd just give the present to my 2 year old, let her find ways to make it fun, or if she's totally uninterested...let her be uninterested for a while and then put away for a later date. Thank SIL, and hopefully life will continue on. :) If SIL asks about the toy, tell her something like "oh, she has a little trouble doing that, but we'll keep working on it and I am sure eventually it will be a lot of fun!"

[beautifulriot]

this seems like a silly question. I would give her the toy. If she doesn't like it she won't play with it and if she does she will. Who says toys have the always be used for their intended purpose anyway?