If you recall from my Christmas Blur post last month, I shamefully ended up making my own gift wrapping paper (complete with ghetto “festive” hand drawings) because I waited too long to buy. For the record, there’s nothing more tragic than standing in an empty aisle at Target failing to get what you need the night before a big holiday. Well maybe there is one thing but I won’t go there.

Little did I know my #momfail would inspire Austin to want to gift wrap his own presents. With his friend’s birthday party coming up, he asked if he could wrap the present all by himself. At first, I was going to let him do his own thing knowing I would have to rewrap it myself later on. However, seeing him put so much effort into the wrapping, flaws and all, made me realize that it was perfect as is.

I’m sure his birthday buddy didn’t notice Austin’s TLC packaging, but that didn’t matter to me. What did matter to me was that Austin wanted to make the gift-giving experience a little more personal for his friend. He was so proud of his work afterwards that he insisted on holding onto it the entire car ride to the party.

A few things I learned today are…

1. Kids are capable of handling a lot more than we think
2. Building a child’s emotional intelligence (EQ) can start at an early age!
3. I never have to go to Target for wrapping paper again and instead will have Austin handle all my gift wrapping 🙂

Kids are great, aren’t they?

-THM