What Age Do Grandparents Stop Giving Gifts to Grandchildren?
Children are close to their parents the most but there is a special bond that exists between grandparents and their grandchildren. There are occasions when children feel more comfortable sharing their secrets and talking about the goings on in their lives with their grandparents rather than their own parents.
Grandparents are a blessing to any child and only those children who are not fortunate enough to have grandparents in their lives can feel the emptiness of not having any grandparents. Grandchildren are not only blessed with the love and care of their grandparents but they get countless gifts from their grandparents as well. Giving gifts to the grandchildren and seeing their happy faces fills the hearts of the grandparents with tremendous joy and happiness. But there is a time limit to everything so at what age should grandparents stop giving gifts to their grandchildren? Let’s find out!
Appropriate gifts based on Age
Grandparents really like to give gifts to their grandchildren as it is an excellent way of showing love and affection towards their grandchildren. When giving gifts, grandparents should consider the age of their grandchildren. The gift that is appropriate for a toddler is not going to be appropriate for a teenager.
Toddlers/ Baby
There are a number of gifts that are perfect to give to a baby or a toddler such as:
- Photo frame: A cute little photo frame where the baby’s first-ever picture can be stored
- Stuffed animals: Babies or toddlers love playing with stuffed animals which makes them a really good gift
- Cloth with grandchild’s initial: Giving the grandchild a cloth with the initials of their name is a great gift that can act as a memorable gift as the toddler grows up.
- Personalized blanket: A personalized blanket is an excellent gift as it will play a pivotal role in the grandchild’s childhood
Young Grandchildren
When the grandchild continues to grow the gifts will change as well. Ideal gifts for young grandchildren are:
- Board games: Young children will be able to identify colors, count spaces, and will be able to develop hand-eye coordination by playing video games.
- Books for children: Books will help the grandchild to know words, understand language, and develop early literacy skills.
- Pencil Color Box: Young grandchildren will be able to put forward their creativity by drawing different sceneries using colored pencils.
- Lego Box: Playing with a Lego box will allow the grandchild to develop problem-solving and spatial skills in addition to comprehending semi-complex tasks.
Teenagers
It is better to gift grandchildren who are in their teenage something that they can use for a long time such as:
- Musical instrument: A guitar or a ukelele is a great gift if the grandchild is into music
- Chessboard: By learning chess, grandchildren will be able to increase their IQ, improve memory function, and develop increased levels of creativity
- Personalized Jewelry: A locket with the grandchild’s initial is an excellent gift for teenagers
- Game CDs: Teenagers love playing video which makes gifting game CDs a great choice
Adult
Choosing gifts for an adult grandchild is not that tricky. Some gift ideas are:
- Wireless headphones: The hassle of wires is absent in wireless headphones making them a good choice
- Tickets to a movie: Tickets to the movie theatre to watch the latest movie is an excellent gift for adults
- Wristwatch: A stylish wristwatch will be greatly appreciated by any adult grandchild
- Perfume: Everyone wants to smell good, especially adults who are always on the go which makes perfume to be a great gift
5 Reasons Why Grandparents Stop Giving Gifts
One of the best feelings any grandparent gets is after giving gifts to their grandchildren and seeing the amount of happiness and excitement on the faces of their grandchildren. Grandparents carefully wrap the gift box with lots of love. Once the grandchild opens the gift box with a booming smile on their face, this is something invaluable to the grandparents. Still, there are a few reasons which might result in the grandparent stopping giving gifts to their grandchild such as:
Loss of Contact
As grandchildren continue to grow older and start to become busy with their lives, this will result in the contact between grandparents and grandchildren becoming less and less. Grandchildren spend a lot of time with their grandparents when they are a toddler or in their early years which lessens as the grandchildren grow up. Since there is a loss of contact the grandparents might not feel necessary to gift anything to their grandchildren.
Not having the financial capability
When the grandchildren are young at that time it is easy for grandparents to buy gifts that are within their budget. As time passes both grandchildren and grandparents start to grow older. This means that grandparents are on the verge of retiring from their work which makes it difficult to buy gifts for their grandchildren. Since they don’t have the financial capability to buy gifts that their growing grandchildren would like.
Staying Far Away
When grandparents reach their retirement age they might choose to move away from the place where they are currently living. As the age of grandchildren increases they may also shift places so that it becomes easy for them to attend college. Both the grandparents and grandchildren are moving away from each other making it exceedingly difficult for grandparents to send gifts to their grandchildren.
Not feeling appreciated
One of the most common reasons for grandparents to stop giving gifts to their grandchildren is because the grandchildren do not show any appreciation after getting the gift. Grandchildren may give hugs to their grandparents whenever they get a gift from them. But as they continue to age they take the gifts for granted and don’t even say a proper thank you. This showed the grandparents that they were not valued and loved. This is often found in grandchildren who are in their teenage years.
Rejection of Gifts
Gifts that were appropriate for a grandchild who was in his early childhood are no longer appropriate for a grandchild who is in his teenage years. For example, a grandparent may gift something which the grandchild considers to be unnecessary or the grandchild may reject the gift altogether. The reason for this is that the gift is not ideal considering the age of the grandchild.
Should Grandparents stop giving gifts to their grandchildren?
Grandparents can continue to give gifts to their grandchildren regardless of the age of the grandchild. So the decision of grandparents to stop giving gifts to their grandchildren depends solely on the grandparents. They can decide to give gifts to their grandchildren as long as they would like to even if their grandchildren are full-grown adults. If the grandchildren specifically tell their grandparents to not gift them anymore then the grandparents should respect their decision and not gift them anything.
The relationship between grandparents and grandchildren also plays a pivotal role in deciding whether the grandparents should stop giving gifts or not. If they share a really close bond with each other then grandparents will give gifts to their grandchildren on special occasions. However, grandparents should consider their financial situation as well before choosing to buy gifts for their grandchildren.
Retired grandparents may opt not to gift anything to their grandchildren as they will not be able to afford the buy the gift. It would not be an issue for grandparents who aren’t retired to buy gifts for their grandchildren if they have a very good relationship. Grandparents should stop giving gifts to their grandchild if the relationship is not that good and they talk to each other only once in a while.
FAQs
1. Should grandparents stop giving gifts to their grandchildren?
Grandparents should stop giving gifts to their grandchildren when their financial situation does not allow them to buy anything for their grandchildren or when the distance starts to grow between the two of them.
2. Is it wise for grandparents to gift money to their grandchildren?
When grandparents give money as a gift it is important to keep in mind that the way their grandchildren will spend the cash is not in the grandparent’s hands anymore so they need to be okay with the way grandchildren choose to spend that money.
3. Is it necessary for grandparents to give gifts to their grandchildren?
It is not mandatory for grandparents to buy gifts for their grandchildren and the only reason they do buy gifts is out of love for their grandchildren.
Final Thoughts
The relationship that grandparents and grandchildren share is a very special one since this relationship provides a multitude of things such as love, wisdom, fun, stability, and support. This is why grandparents gift their grandchildren on a regular basis and sometimes the grandchildren get gifts even when there is no occasion. But as the grandchildren start to grow older and become mature the involvement of the grandparents reduces as well. It becomes difficult to choose the gift which will be beneficial to the grandchild which results in the grandparents getting confused. The grandparent might choose to gift money in this case but they don’t know how their grandchildren will spend this money. In such a situation it is better for grandparents to stop giving gifts to their grandchildren altogether. But ultimately the call lies completely with the grandparents as they are the decision-makers when it comes to giving gifts to their grandchildren.
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Maria W. Corley is a family psychology expert dedicated to helping families thrive. With a passion for improving relationships, Maria shares practical advice on Merge Family. Her goal is to make your family feel closer than ever by addressing communication issues and fostering understanding.
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