Latest / Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families / #181 Kids Asking For Expensive Gifts
Transcript
- 0:02Speaker 1: It's the Happy Families podcast. It's the podcast for the
- 0:06Speaker 1: time poor parent who just wants answers.
- 0:09Speaker 2: Now, when we are materialistic as parents, that is when
- 0:12Speaker 2: we use materialistic gifts to say, you know, I love
- 0:15Speaker 2: you so much, and here's what I'm giving you because
- 0:17Speaker 2: of it that actually enhances and builds materialism in our kids.
- 0:21Speaker 1: And now here's the stars of our show, my mum
- 0:24Speaker 1: and dad.
- 0:25Speaker 2: Ho ho ho mery crip, you don't you're looking at
- 0:29Speaker 2: me like there's a mom?
- 0:30Speaker 3: Is that the best? Ho ho ho You've got?
- 0:32Speaker 1: Well?
- 0:32Speaker 4: No, but I don't want to be all silly about
- 0:34Speaker 4: it and go will Santa. I've just come on.
- 0:36Speaker 2: This is doctor Justin Colson doing a terrible sata. Obviously,
- 0:39Speaker 2: missus Happy Families has not been impressed. I'm the author
- 0:41Speaker 2: of six books about raising happy families. My wife and
- 0:43Speaker 2: co host The mom Do Our six Daughters. Hey, we
- 0:46Speaker 2: get awesome feedback from you via the Apple podcast app,
- 0:49Speaker 2: where people leave ratings and reviews, but also via podcasts
- 0:52Speaker 2: at happy families dot com. Today you and doctor Andrew
- 0:55Speaker 2: Hatch from Canada has sent us a voice memo. How
- 0:58Speaker 2: awesome is this feedback?
- 1:00Speaker 5: My wife and I started listening to your podcast about
- 1:03Speaker 5: two three months ago, and we've found the advice and
- 1:07Speaker 5: counsel that you give to be the thing that we
- 1:10Speaker 5: were looking for. Between the two of us, we have
- 1:13Speaker 5: close to fifteen sixteen years of post secondary education in
- 1:17Speaker 5: childhood education, behavioral neuroscience. I'm a practicing clinician, and we
- 1:26Speaker 5: felt like we've struggled raising our children and struggled trying
- 1:30Speaker 5: to help them be the best they can be. And
- 1:33Speaker 5: I'd just like to thank you for the tremendous difference
- 1:36Speaker 5: that you're making for my family and I hope for
- 1:39Speaker 5: many other families. I know both my wife and I
- 1:42Speaker 5: share your podcast everybody that we know, and hopefully you'll
- 1:46Speaker 5: be able to continue doing this for many years to come.
- 1:49Speaker 2: We are so grateful for that feedback. Thank you Andrew
- 1:52Speaker 2: for taking the time to send us a voice memo.
- 1:54Speaker 2: If you would like to send us feedback, it makes
- 1:56Speaker 2: our Christmas, it makes our day. We love getting your
- 1:59Speaker 2: feedback about how the podcast has helped. You can email
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- 2:08Speaker 4: You can also just jump onto Apple podcasts and.
- 2:11Speaker 2: Leave a rating and review, because when you do that,
- 2:13Speaker 2: other people get to find out about the show. Now
- 2:15Speaker 2: today's topic. I'm really excited about this. We received some
- 2:19Speaker 2: feedback from somebody again via podcast at happy families dot
- 2:22Speaker 2: com dot you.
- 2:23Speaker 4: What was their question?
- 2:24Speaker 3: They mentioned that their children are obsessed with expensive presence
- 2:28Speaker 3: that they can't afford as a family. They want to
- 2:31Speaker 3: know how they can avoid disappointing their children on Christmas morning.
- 2:34Speaker 2: So this kind of taps into there's a few different
- 2:37Speaker 2: ways that we can approach this, but I want to
- 2:39Speaker 2: talk specifically about the issue of materialism, because whether you're
- 2:43Speaker 2: rich or poor, whether you've got finances or you know,
- 2:47Speaker 2: and your flush or you're completely out, the children do
- 2:51Speaker 2: have expectations at Christmas. But there's some really cool science
- 2:56Speaker 2: that's only been published just in the last couple of
- 2:58Speaker 2: years that really div allops this idea of materialism and
- 3:01Speaker 2: where it comes from.
- 3:03Speaker 4: Can I share it with you? I want to geek out.
- 3:04Speaker 3: You're going to geek Oh, okay, all right.
- 3:06Speaker 4: This is Kylie.
- 3:07Speaker 2: Whenever meever I start talking about science, guys like, oh
- 3:11Speaker 2: my goodness, can we just be real?
- 3:13Speaker 4: This is really real.
- 3:14Speaker 2: So these scientists are published in the Journal of Consumer Research.
- 3:19Speaker 2: They expanded on some some like decades of really cool research,
- 3:23Speaker 2: and here's what they found. Children who receive material rewards
- 3:28Speaker 2: from their parents are more likely to be materialistic because
- 3:32Speaker 2: they see material goodies as a signal that they are
- 3:37Speaker 2: valuable people, that they are worthy. So the material possessions
- 3:41Speaker 2: basically say, you know, I'm enhancing myself. It defines who
- 3:46Speaker 2: I am. In other words, when we are materialistic as parents,
- 3:52Speaker 2: that is when we use materialistic gifts to say, you know,
- 3:55Speaker 2: I love you so much and here's what I'm giving
- 3:57Speaker 2: you because of it. That that actually in enhances and
- 4:00Speaker 2: builds materialism in our kids. They feel like they need
- 4:04Speaker 2: material things to demonstrate that they're of worth.
- 4:08Speaker 3: So that whole extrinsic motivation or extrinsic recognition, yeah, helps
- 4:18Speaker 3: them to feel it worth.
- 4:20Speaker 2: Yeah, when I've got things that are fancy, When I've
- 4:22Speaker 2: got you know, the latest phone or the latest do dad,
- 4:24Speaker 2: the latest gives mode that all the kids at school
- 4:26Speaker 2: are talking about, then I've got status and I'm of worth.
- 4:31Speaker 2: There's that extrinsic focus, and that's the materialistic pathway. And
- 4:36Speaker 2: what happens there is that I mean, society as a
- 4:38Speaker 2: whole certainly perpetuates and fosters that the school yard, without
- 4:41Speaker 2: question can do that, but it actually starts in the home,
- 4:44Speaker 2: and this research highlights that.
- 4:46Speaker 4: There's also another really interesting.
- 4:47Speaker 2: Thing that they the research has found, and that is
- 4:50Speaker 2: that when parents are rejecting of their kids, you know,
- 4:54Speaker 2: when parents are not warm towards their children, then the
- 4:57Speaker 2: kids just gravitate to those external materials, realistic symbols, as
- 5:01Speaker 2: a signal that I'm good enough.
- 5:04Speaker 4: Yep, And so I reckon.
- 5:06Speaker 2: Now, I'm not suggesting that this is the case for
- 5:08Speaker 2: the person who emailed us. I'm sure that they're living
- 5:11Speaker 2: in a beautiful home and looking after their family the
- 5:14Speaker 2: best that they can. But it's so critically important that
- 5:17Speaker 2: we don't foster insecurity in our children by making material rewards,
- 5:23Speaker 2: material gifts some sort of a symbol of how worthy
- 5:27Speaker 2: they are. We actually need to create the connection and
- 5:30Speaker 2: the relationship as the symbol, not the materialism.
- 5:33Speaker 4: So that's my science geek out.
- 5:35Speaker 3: Well, I think it works really well into I guess
- 5:38Speaker 3: where I'd like to take our conversation. I know how
- 5:40Speaker 3: much you love to geek out with all of the science,
- 5:44Speaker 3: and as I was listening to I think the thing
- 5:47Speaker 3: that just really stands out to me is it's really
- 5:50Speaker 3: about changing the focus of what we do at Christmas
- 5:53Speaker 3: time with our children.
- 5:54Speaker 2: Well not just at Christmas time, but right throughout the year,
- 5:56Speaker 2: but certainly at Christmas.
- 5:58Speaker 4: You know the whole thing.
- 5:59Speaker 2: You know, sand is only going to give you a
- 6:00Speaker 2: gift if you've been nice, not naughty. That's an extrinsic
- 6:05Speaker 2: marker of your value to Santa or to me as
- 6:09Speaker 2: a person.
- 6:10Speaker 4: And I reckon, there's a really big problem with this.
- 6:13Speaker 2: This extrinsic reward actually promotes a materialistic approach to life.
- 6:18Speaker 3: I have actually never thought about it like that. Obviously,
- 6:22Speaker 3: We've had lots of discussions around Santa in our home,
- 6:26Speaker 3: and you know, kind of what part he's going to
- 6:28Speaker 3: play in our Christmas as a family, But I've never
- 6:32Speaker 3: actually thought about that extrinsic recognition.
- 6:37Speaker 2: Yeah, bit mind blown, right, But you'll I don't know
- 6:40Speaker 2: if I've ever even been explicit with you about it,
- 6:42Speaker 2: But in our home, we don't do a lot when
- 6:43Speaker 2: it comes to giving the kids big gifts and making
- 6:47Speaker 2: a big deal about materialistic stuff. We just don't do that.
- 6:50Speaker 2: And I've always just had it in my mind. Maybe
- 6:53Speaker 2: I've never even told you. The more we do that,
- 6:55Speaker 2: the more kids actually feel that they're a value when
- 6:56Speaker 2: they're getting that stuff, but when they're not getting that stuff,
- 6:58Speaker 2: they start to question their value.
- 7:00Speaker 4: Whereas our approach is very different.
- 7:02Speaker 2: We actually try to minimize a focus on anything materialistic
- 7:05Speaker 2: or extrinsic without being all austere and making our kids
- 7:08Speaker 2: feel impoverished. I mean, we still live I think, a
- 7:11Speaker 2: really nice life with our family, but it's not about
- 7:14Speaker 2: the stuff. Stuff doesn't make you happy. It's about the connection.
- 7:18Speaker 3: And I love that focus love. I love that we
- 7:21Speaker 3: yet to spend time with our children in really meaningful
- 7:23Speaker 3: ways as a result.
- 7:24Speaker 2: So after the break, we're going to share five ways,
- 7:27Speaker 2: regardless of your financial position, five ways that you can
- 7:29Speaker 2: help your kids to move away from materialism and have
- 7:33Speaker 2: those high expectations from Santa at Christmas. It's the Happy
- 7:37Speaker 2: Families Podcast.
- 7:39Speaker 6: Imagine a home where discipline got results without anyone having
- 7:42Speaker 6: to feel bad or in trouble. The dos and don'ts
- 7:44Speaker 6: of discipline as a webinar to help parents set limits
- 7:47Speaker 6: with love, compassion and humanity. Find it now at happyfamilies
- 7:51Speaker 6: dot com dot au slash shop.
- 7:54Speaker 3: It's a Happy Families podcast. The podcast for the time
- 7:56Speaker 3: poor parent who just wants answers now and we have
- 7:59Speaker 3: been to talking today about how we can help our
- 8:02Speaker 3: children to.
- 8:04Speaker 4: Not be so materialistic.
- 8:06Speaker 2: And the reality is they're going to be right, Like,
- 8:08Speaker 2: if all their friends are getting this really cool thing,
- 8:09Speaker 2: they're probably going to want it. And sometimes I think
- 8:13Speaker 2: it's okay to get it for them, Like sometimes that's fine.
- 8:16Speaker 2: I don't want this podcast to sound like we're all like,
- 8:18Speaker 2: you know, don't let the kids have cool stuff, because
- 8:20Speaker 2: that's not it at all. If you're in a position
- 8:22Speaker 2: to do it and you want to spoil them every
- 8:23Speaker 2: now and again, go for your life, fill your boots,
- 8:26Speaker 2: have fun with that. But it's not always going to
- 8:30Speaker 2: make them happy and they're not always going to remember it.
- 8:34Speaker 2: So definitely it's fun to have fun with gift giving.
- 8:38Speaker 2: But over the last I mean, we've been married for
- 8:40Speaker 2: twenty two to twenty three years, and I reckon over
- 8:44Speaker 2: that time period, probably twenty of those years, we have
- 8:47Speaker 2: been so tight financially and we've been thinking how in
- 8:51Speaker 2: the world we're going to get through Christmas. And so
- 8:53Speaker 2: I want to talk about five different ways that we
- 8:54Speaker 2: can remove the focus of materialism from our kids so
- 8:59Speaker 2: that they can have a dud for Christmas without being
- 9:01Speaker 2: so obsessed with getting the expensive gifts.
- 9:04Speaker 3: Well, I think one of the first things is just
- 9:07Speaker 3: not trying to keep up with the Joneses. I know,
- 9:09Speaker 3: I was a Jones.
- 9:10Speaker 4: Your name is Jones, Kylie Jones. I try to keep
- 9:13Speaker 4: up with the Joneses. There wasn't much to keep up with.
- 9:17Speaker 3: But I think that's really important that you know, whatever
- 9:20Speaker 3: your focus is at Christmas, it's about your family, not
- 9:23Speaker 3: what you know the next door neighbors are doing or
- 9:25Speaker 3: what the family down the street's doing.
- 9:26Speaker 4: And we've even said that to our kids. You know,
- 9:28Speaker 4: they're like, oh, but so and so I've got such
- 9:29Speaker 4: and such, an we.
- 9:30Speaker 2: See, I know and their family can afford that this year,
- 9:32Speaker 2: but our family is not in a position to do that.
- 9:34Speaker 2: So we're going to be grateful for what we've got
- 9:36Speaker 2: and we're going to shift the focus. But not trying
- 9:39Speaker 2: to keep up is a critical way to do that.
- 9:43Speaker 3: And so one year, one of the things that we did,
- 9:45Speaker 3: actually one of my favorite Christmases that we've had with
- 9:47Speaker 3: our children is we decided that we were going to
- 9:50Speaker 3: have a homemade Christmas. I was right into my crafting
- 9:53Speaker 3: back then and love just spending time you know working
- 9:57Speaker 3: with my hands, and I thought it would be really
- 9:59Speaker 3: nice to start to inspire the children's creativity firstly, but
- 10:03Speaker 3: secondly teach them skills.
- 10:04Speaker 2: And thirdly, we were broke, well we broke, we had
- 10:07Speaker 2: no money, so homemade Christmas was basically we made stuff
- 10:12Speaker 2: for each other.
- 10:12Speaker 3: Yes, so they got one on one time with me
- 10:14Speaker 3: because we sat down. We talked about the secret sister
- 10:17Speaker 3: name that they pulled out of the hat and what
- 10:19Speaker 3: they might like for Christmas. And one of my favorite gifts.
- 10:23Speaker 3: I've actually just been going through some of the kids
- 10:25Speaker 3: keepsakes and found it the other day. Ella, she was
- 10:28Speaker 3: probably about maybe eight when we did this Christmas. She
- 10:34Speaker 3: made up a poem that became a story. It was
- 10:37Speaker 3: a little story about it's time to get up, It's
- 10:40Speaker 3: time to get up, it's time to get up, it's
- 10:42Speaker 3: time to get up for school today, or something like
- 10:44Speaker 3: that was little rime that she made. And so she
- 10:46Speaker 3: actually stepped her little sister.
- 10:48Speaker 4: Who was starting school this is the next month.
- 10:50Speaker 3: That's right, who was going to start school, stepped her
- 10:53Speaker 3: through the routine of what she needed to do in
- 10:56Speaker 3: the morning to get ready for school. And she then
- 10:59Speaker 3: you to her little sister and took photos of the
- 11:03Speaker 3: two of them doing those things like brushing her teeth.
- 11:06Speaker 2: They got dressed up in their school uniforms and took
- 11:08Speaker 2: the photos and put her all together as an album
- 11:10Speaker 2: with the poem to guide her sister through the morning
- 11:14Speaker 2: for when she started a big school.
- 11:15Speaker 3: And it was such a beautiful gift. Like I said,
- 11:19Speaker 3: I just pulled it out the other day and I
- 11:20Speaker 3: couldn't help smiling because it was just it was such
- 11:23Speaker 3: a simple thing, and yet it's something that they'll be
- 11:25Speaker 3: able to look back on for years.
- 11:27Speaker 2: So basically that Christmas, there was no materialism because we
- 11:29Speaker 2: weren't spending any money. It was actually what I'm building
- 11:32Speaker 2: for you, what I'm making for you, what I'm creating,
- 11:34Speaker 2: and it was so good, like you said, relationally and creatively.
- 11:37Speaker 2: So that's the first idea, Just don't try to keep
- 11:40Speaker 2: up with people. Go your own way, do your own thing.
- 11:43Speaker 2: Second thing, what I love about you, Kylie, is you
- 11:45Speaker 2: love to shop. I do love to That's actually not
- 11:48Speaker 2: what I love about you. But the reason you love
- 11:50Speaker 2: to shop is because you're a savvy shopper, and so
- 11:52Speaker 2: all year long, you know that at the end of
- 11:54Speaker 2: the year, we're probably going to do, you know, something
- 11:56Speaker 2: to wear, something to read, something they want, something they need,
- 11:58Speaker 2: And so as the year on, you're actually looking out
- 12:01Speaker 2: for opportunities to snag bargains, which means when we get
- 12:04Speaker 2: to Christmas, we've already got most of the stuff that
- 12:06Speaker 2: we need. We've paid peanuts for it because you've got
- 12:09Speaker 2: it on special throughout the year. And that's our second
- 12:13Speaker 2: idea for removing the materialism. Just let the kids know
- 12:15Speaker 2: this is how we do Christmas.
- 12:17Speaker 4: That's the way it's going to be.
- 12:20Speaker 2: The third thing is a really simple one as well,
- 12:21Speaker 2: and I don't think it requires a lot of time
- 12:23Speaker 2: and focus. Just don't make it a big deal. Don't
- 12:26Speaker 2: carry on about how much expensive stuff we're doing, or
- 12:29Speaker 2: how we're doing this, or I paid this much for that,
- 12:30Speaker 2: or this was the really big gift this year. I
- 12:33Speaker 2: just don't make it a big deal. Sometimes kids get
- 12:36Speaker 2: big stuff, sometimes they don't.
- 12:38Speaker 3: And I guess that's what I love about what we
- 12:40Speaker 3: do with the four gifts. You know, it's just there's
- 12:43Speaker 3: no price tag attached to it. Everybody gets four gifts,
- 12:45Speaker 3: and because it all fits into those different themes each
- 12:50Speaker 3: the children are just happy with the four gifts. That
- 12:53Speaker 3: they get. They're not comparing with the other person.
- 12:55Speaker 4: What book did you get? Because of books and book
- 12:58Speaker 4: you know, and clothing.
- 13:00Speaker 3: Excited to get a few new outfits. So I really
- 13:03Speaker 3: like the fact that, you know, because of the way
- 13:06Speaker 3: we've set things up for our kids, it's not a
- 13:08Speaker 3: big deal.
- 13:09Speaker 2: So the last two ideas that we've got, let's go
- 13:11Speaker 2: through these fairly briefly, but they are I think the
- 13:13Speaker 2: two most important ones. I'm going to combine them. Number four,
- 13:18Speaker 2: just change the focus. So in a couple of days
- 13:20Speaker 2: we're doing a podcast about how we can change the focus.
- 13:23Speaker 2: But I reckon, there's a couple of things that you
- 13:26Speaker 2: were talking to me about before that are worth highlighting here.
- 13:29Speaker 3: So two things that we've done which I have absolutely
- 13:31Speaker 3: loved and have completely changed the way we did Christmas.
- 13:34Speaker 3: That year, we went on our very first international family holiday.
- 13:39Speaker 4: We've never been.
- 13:40Speaker 3: On an international family holiday.
- 13:42Speaker 2: It was like four years ago. And let me give
- 13:44Speaker 2: you some context here, because this is important. We decided
- 13:47Speaker 2: that we were going to take the family away for Christmas,
- 13:49Speaker 2: but we also wanted it to be not just about
- 13:52Speaker 2: the family and not just you know, indulgent, but we
- 13:55Speaker 2: wanted it to be for a good cause, and so
- 13:57Speaker 2: at a charity auction, I bought a holiday to Bali
- 14:01Speaker 2: at that charity auction, which meant that the money that
- 14:03Speaker 2: I was paying for the holiday was actually being donated
- 14:06Speaker 2: to a charity rather than just paying for a holiday.
- 14:09Speaker 2: It kind of it felt good to spend money on
- 14:11Speaker 2: a holiday for us and know that we were helping people,
- 14:14Speaker 2: so that that was a really cool thing.
- 14:15Speaker 3: We probably wouldn't have had a holiday if it wasn't
- 14:17Speaker 3: for the auction, because it's not money that we would
- 14:20Speaker 3: have normally spent on ourselves like that, but because of
- 14:24Speaker 3: the focus, it allowed us the opportunity to benefit as well,
- 14:28Speaker 3: which was so much fun.
- 14:30Speaker 2: A really quick story about that as well. When I
- 14:31Speaker 2: was bidding, I was actually goofing off. I didn't really
- 14:33Speaker 2: intend to buy the holiday, and somebody else put up
- 14:36Speaker 2: their hand at the same time that I bid, and
- 14:38Speaker 2: the auctioneer said, you've got it, and you've got it,
- 14:40Speaker 2: and then he pointed someone else whose hand was going
- 14:41Speaker 2: up and stand and you've got it too, and he
- 14:43Speaker 2: sold all three of them.
- 14:44Speaker 3: He did.
- 14:45Speaker 2: There was only one on offer, but he actually said
- 14:47Speaker 2: all three of you, and you've all paid that much
- 14:48Speaker 2: money and I was like, oh no, because I didn't
- 14:50Speaker 2: really mean to buy it, But anyway, we donated and
- 14:53Speaker 2: we won.
- 14:54Speaker 4: We won.
- 14:55Speaker 2: We won a holiday at an auction that we paid
- 14:57Speaker 2: for and we helped other people out, which was great.
- 15:00Speaker 4: Well, what was awesome.
- 15:01Speaker 3: About that was that it was a holiday for ten people.
- 15:05Speaker 3: We only have eight people in our family.
- 15:07Speaker 4: That we only have eight people, and.
- 15:09Speaker 3: We got to take my mum and dad who'd never
- 15:10Speaker 3: been overseas before, which was super super fun, and they
- 15:14Speaker 3: got to experience things that they'd never experienced. But the
- 15:17Speaker 3: thing that was actually super special about this was by
- 15:19Speaker 3: the time we went to actually book the holiday, the
- 15:22Speaker 3: only time we could do this was literally over Christmas
- 15:26Speaker 3: Day and Boxing Day.
- 15:28Speaker 2: So none of this was actually meant to happen like this,
- 15:30Speaker 2: but it's just how it all worked out. So we
- 15:32Speaker 2: were away for Christmas on this holiday that I didn't
- 15:34Speaker 2: mean to buy, but it was for a charity and
- 15:36Speaker 2: it was for a good cause, and it all worked
- 15:38Speaker 2: out really nicely because of that.
- 15:39Speaker 3: We didn't have presents that year. We literally that year
- 15:42Speaker 3: was just about experiencing another place in the world together
- 15:46Speaker 3: as a family, and our focus was just family time
- 15:50Speaker 3: and it today is a highlight.
- 15:52Speaker 2: So that changes the focus completely. And the other way
- 15:56Speaker 2: to change the focus, and we'll talk about this, like
- 15:58Speaker 2: I said in the podcast on Thursday, is just focus
- 16:00Speaker 2: not on what you're going to get, but what you're
- 16:02Speaker 2: going to give. Focus on giving to others, especially those
- 16:04Speaker 2: who are not part of the family, Like look for
- 16:06Speaker 2: ways that you can contribute in the community and do
- 16:08Speaker 2: something there. I think that's the other way that we
- 16:10Speaker 2: can really change the focus. More on that on Thursday.
- 16:13Speaker 2: The final way to move away from materialism with the kids,
- 16:17Speaker 2: I think.
- 16:17Speaker 3: You have to be an example. It has to start
- 16:19Speaker 3: with you.
- 16:20Speaker 2: Yeah, Like if you're all about the presence, and if
- 16:22Speaker 2: you're all about what you get what you get, if
- 16:25Speaker 2: you're all about filling up underneath the tree and making
- 16:28Speaker 2: it a huge deal, then it's probably going to happen
- 16:31Speaker 2: that the kids.
- 16:32Speaker 4: Are going to follow your lead.
- 16:34Speaker 2: In my webinar how to Unspoil the Kids for Christmas,
- 16:37Speaker 2: I talked about how there are three levels to Christmas.
- 16:39Speaker 2: The first one is the Santa clause Ho Ho ho,
- 16:41Speaker 2: Merry Christmas. That's the too much food and too many presents.
- 16:44Speaker 2: And you can have an awesome Christmas when you do that,
- 16:46Speaker 2: Like there's nothing the matter with Level one Christmas. Level
- 16:49Speaker 2: two Christmas is where you've got the Christmas carols and
- 16:52Speaker 2: you maybe put an activity scene up and you do
- 16:55Speaker 2: some of the stuff that a lot of people will say, well,
- 16:57Speaker 2: this is the true meaning of Christmas, and you focus
- 16:59Speaker 2: on the the traditional Christmas things that we do. It's
- 17:03Speaker 2: probably going a little bit deeper with you having some
- 17:05Speaker 2: time with family and really focusing on family time.
- 17:08Speaker 4: And then there's the Level three Christmas.
- 17:09Speaker 2: Now, for those who've got a faith tradition, then that's
- 17:12Speaker 2: going to be a really heavy emphasis on faith.
- 17:14Speaker 4: But for those who don't.
- 17:16Speaker 2: You can still really go to a level three Christmas
- 17:18Speaker 2: by focusing on generosity and service and sacrifice and not
- 17:24Speaker 2: thinking about yourself but thinking about other people at a
- 17:26Speaker 2: time where there's a lot of really vulnerable people, people
- 17:29Speaker 2: who are really challenged, And I think that's what we're
- 17:31Speaker 2: really talking about here, be an example by shifting the
- 17:34Speaker 2: focus away from self towards others.
- 17:38Speaker 3: I love it makes me happy.
- 17:40Speaker 4: Well, I love talking about Christmas.
- 17:41Speaker 2: Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year, and
- 17:44Speaker 2: I love.
- 17:45Speaker 4: Being able to do it on the podcast.
- 17:46Speaker 2: If you've enjoyed the podcast, we would so very much
- 17:49Speaker 2: appreciate you taking a minute or two, maybe over the
- 17:51Speaker 2: Christmas break, when you've got a minute or two, jumping
- 17:54Speaker 2: into Apple Podcasts and leaving a rating and review, letting
- 17:56Speaker 2: people know how you're enjoying it and why it means
- 17:59Speaker 2: so much to us, and it helps other people to
- 18:01Speaker 2: find the show and make their families happier. We appreciate
- 18:04Speaker 2: Justin Roulin from Bridge Media for producing the podcast, and
- 18:06Speaker 2: our executive producer as always is Craig Bruce. If you'd
- 18:09Speaker 2: like more info about making your family happy, you can
- 18:12Speaker 2: find it all at happyfamilies dot com dot au