Spoiled little brat!!!

Typically with my boyfriend's family everyone buys presents for everyone. Well that was getting expensive and seeing as how my boyfriend's dad is unemployed and we aren't exactly rich either, his mom and aunt suggested drawing names so everyone buys 1 present for someone else and then presents are exchanged with immediate family.

I thought this sounded like a good idea. We got his cousin and his wife. So we bought presents for them and my boyfriend's immediate family.

Well....he drove up to see them and I'm going to family's and he calls me. He says that, well call him J, who is his counsin's step-child, doesn't want to draw names. He wants presents from everyone. Immediately I said "well sucks for him" because I would never expect anyone to just let a kid dictate that (He is 12) but then he says he's on his way to best buy to get him a gift card!

My problem here is on two levels.....1) what a spoiled kid! He is not even blood related to this family! He just asks for everyone to buy him presents and expects it to happen! and 2) where is the discipline? If I would have said that to my parents you better believe that paddle would be waiting for me on the other side.

Now I'm not saying they should beat him for asking. But why isn't anyone putting their foot down? So now we have to spread our budget even thinner for this kid? And I don't know why my boyfriend is even participating. He barely knows this kid and doesn't have the money for it either. I just can't believe every single person in the family is allowing this! What the hell?!

I agree this child sounds very spoiled and arrogant. His parents need to set him straight about proper manners of gift giving and receiving of gifts. I think your BF should stick with the plan and not buy him anything. I think this is a good example of how the meaning of Christmas can get lost and become all about gifts.

Well, this year my hub is unemployed and we can't buy things. My in laws have so much money that there isn't a thing they need or want and they thumb their noses up at anything that is bought for them, with the exception of their favorite son, the youngest. He can do no wrong.

I'm sorry that my hub doesn't have a job, but I am glad that I can't buy presents this year. It has saved me a lot of aggravation.

I don't think there is anything pious or religious about buying frantically for people who don't need one damn thing.

Giving to charity is the way to go, if you must find an outlet for giving, IMO.

I understand that a 12 y/o would want everyone to give gifts to him but the parents are not helping this child but encouraging the child to feel entitled to gifts. If your BF wants or feels obliged to give this child a gift I would suggest buying a $50 savings bond that will cost $25 (less than what he was going to spend at bestbuy).

Thanks everyone. I told him I didn't want him to buy him anything and he didn't. His mom did but he didn't spend any money on him, thankfully. I told him this kid needs a good old fashioned beat down lol. I think thats a good way to weed selfish people out. Like my boss got married this past July. Him and his wife donated a lot of money to the humane society in lieu of buying everyone gifts. They just placed a card at everyone's seat saying they had donated in their names. I thought it was a pretty cool idea and love the thought of donating to an animal shelter. But some people were complaining that they didn't get anything.

I am glad that my bf didn't think it was okay to do that. If he would have thought it was perfectly fine that would have been a big red flag.

I got some of the goofiest gifts from my mother in law. She musn't be feeling well or something.

It sounds very much like this boy needs a lesson on what giving is. Out of curiosity, did other family members give in to this boy’s whims?

AAAAA - yes they did. My bf and I were apparently the only ones who thought it was wrong to do so. The others might say little things about it but not stand up against it or anything. They still give in.

Saluki - I think you and your bf did the right thing.

I too believe that Christmas has become to overcomercialized and that many children can only think of how many presents and how much money people will spend on them. This year we had a talk with our daughters (twin 9 yr olds) (OK the bf's daughters, but they are mine too) and told them that money was tight and that Christmas wasn't about how many gifts you got or how expensive they were, etc. That it was about spending time with family and doing things from your heart. We told them there would be 1 family gift (ALL would chip in - for them chores with no pay), 1 gift each from us, and then they needed to think of something to make for each other, me, and their dad and we would help them. On the bf's side they draw names by family. So every year we get one of his 3 brothers - we also get that bro's wife/gf and kids (if there are kids). So the bro we got has 2 kids, I had already decided I would make blankets for the kids. But instead the girls drew names and they made the blankets (well I helped a lot). One of the girls (K) really got into it and was happy to be doing things for others. S not so much. OK so I went off topic. But I do think it's important to let kids know what Christmas is really about and then stick to it. Sorry for the tangent.

It sounds like this boy needed a lump of coal in his stocking!

My bf and I propagated a tree from one that we own now for my brother. He had said how much he liked it when he helped us move so we just made another tree from ours which cost 0 money but had a lot of thought in it and he keeps saying over and over how much he loves it. My favorite present this yr was a 20 dollar pillow pet haha.

I could understand from really little kids that don't understand the dynamics of the economy and how much presents cost but a 13 yr old kid should know better. My parents used to wrap our presents in newspaper and told us it was because wrapping paper was too expensive and we never thought twice about it.

This yr my mom kept asking me what I wanted. She ended up sending me a check for gas money so I could come home and see everyone and that meant so much to me. I got to sit around with my family and play euchre and see my nieces and nephew. I think you have to go through a little bit to realize what you have but I still think what he did was selfish.

We'll see what happens next Christmas...........