AIBU to feel guilty about ds lack of gifts?

[Dalmatian2017]

My ds birthday is close to Xmas and this is the only time of year he has presents and not lots of say 2 at Xmas and 1-2 birthday from is plus a few more from family. He gets more Occasionally in the year he will get something small from a boot sale or similar.

He loves watching you tube videos of people opening Xmas, birthday and Easter gifts. His face totally lights up and makes me feel guilty! I wouldn't go to that extreme as some of the videos even if I had lots of money but would definitely buy more and odd bits trough the year too.

It doesn't seem that your DS is then asking you why he doesn't have masses of gifts though? So just take it at face value that he gets enjoyment from other people opening gifts! It's not reflection on you.

My DS2 helped open his little friends gifts at his party because he was just so excited to see what his friend received.

I can suggest a kid called Evan on you tube who opens toys and puts them together and does a little review. My eldest used to love watching his episodes.

Yes I agree it doesn't mean he wants presents it is just a thing he likes watching

You could probably wrap anything! A banana/trousers that are new to him/a bag of chocolate buttons. If it's just the excitement of unwrapping that matters

My 11 year old would spend hours watching them but my 16yo wouldn't be arsed Mrs jay 😀

My dd watches the blind bag openings, urgh, she loves them!

But 2 Christmas presents??!

I justhad to have a look Kinder egg openiing and playdoh kids are weird

My birthday is 26th December. I only got new toys on birthday or Christmas; it felt a long time to wait.

Then there were relatives who gave one present for both "as I'm sure she's got so many gifts at this time of year". And DM who would run out of inspiration and be busy doing Boxing Day, so would promise me something nice in the New Year (that never materialised).

This probably sounds grabby but for a young child a Christmas birthday can be really miserable.

Poor lad! Yes do feel guilty. Unless of course you can't afford more.

I have two who madly love watching people inbox all sorts of rubbish, they also like watching play doh with stuff hidden inside and lollipop reviews

Unbox not inbox

He gets 2 presents at Christmas and 1 for his birthday from his parents? And the occasional car boot sale gift?? I'm not surprised the kid likes watching present opening. There's a difference between going overboard and being really stingy! Only on mumsnet is this the norm!

Only on Mumsnet do people think it's okay to talk to others like that. Would you be so unpleasant face-to-face?

@OP - don't read too much into it. Children find strange things entertaining. He obviously doesn't feel hard done by and I've never met a child who wouldn't put time with their family above anything else!

It doesn't seem that your DS is then asking you why he doesn't have masses of gifts though? So just take it at face value that he gets enjoyment from other people opening gifts! It's not reflection on you.

Or take it as a very positive reflection on you that he enjoys other people's pleasure. A lovely quality.

It's fine.
Dd who regularly gets treated by my dsis and my dm loves these things on YouTube, she squeals when they open the present.
You're not being mean to your son.

Your son uses his only computer time to google present opening videos to watch them?

Why do I feel that's a bit of an unusual pursuit for a child?

No, it's a 'thing' these days. My DN loves watching unboxing videos on the iPad. No TV really, just YT videos!

My ds and his friends used to spend ages watching videos of people opening packets of MatchAttax cards!

But why only two presents at Christmas?

I've not heard of the present watching thing!

I wouldn't worry. Both my dds have January birthdays. They are 2 and 4 at the moment. They didn't get many birthday presents but I bought them some books and dressing up stuff for Easter, and they get random presents throughout the year. I don't really like the getting a huge pile of presents in one go. They can't appreciate them all and if you put them away for a few months they may have moved on. I'd rather buy them things as and when, and have the association that Xmas and birthdays are not solely about presents.

My birthday is only a couple of days before Xmas and whilst it's a pain as an adult now to organise anything (people going away/home for Xmas), as a child it never bothered me.
My parents made sure my birthday was more of an event than Xmas (or at least felt that way to me), so bigger/more pressies on my birthday. Not expensive gifts, pretty sure if I got a colouring book and a pack of pens they were wrapped separately so I thought I was getting more. And would arrange fun outings - pantomime for eg. Where I'd always be called on stage as it was my birthday.
It doesn't have to cost money, just put more emphasis on the birthday to make it extra special!

He's only a baby, he's around 2 or 3 isn't he?
So he hasn't got much of an idea about birthdays yet, or about guilt or resentment that others have more.
Give yourself a break, you've got a lot more birthdays to come.