These Gifts Might Open Up New Worlds For Your Kids
Gift ideas that spark passions and the health-related gifts you and your spouse might want to invest in.
Hello, good people! I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.
On Tuesday we looked at the common gifts that tend to “close doors” for your kid—the gifts you might come to regret. Today, as promised, I want to do the opposite and look at the gifts that might open up new interests, opportunities, and passions for your kids. Onward!
Gifts Ideas that Open Up Worlds
There are more options here than I could list, but the underlying principle is fairly straightforward. Ask yourself:
What purchases might be a portal to new worlds?
What gifts might inspire new passions or pour fire onto current ones?
What gifts might lead to the development of skills that open up your kids’ minds and their future possibilities?
Here are a few of my favorites:
A bounce house:
This was our big gift for the kids last year. It was under $200 and now every time we have a get-together with friends or family, the kids are far more likely to be outside playing than inside asking to watch a movie. Trampolines serve a similar function. Sure, kids could get hurt while playing, but overprotection is a far greater danger.
A guitar/keyboard/other musical instrument:
I’ve been trying to learn guitar all year. I’m still not good, but I love it and now I listen and think of music completely differently. I can’t wait for the day I can sit outside on a beautiful evening and play requests.
Playing music promotes greater musical appreciation, it facilitates future connections with other people, and learning music is a great way to learn the skill of learning a skill (perhaps the most important skill for 21st century success).
A skateboard/scooter/bike, etc.:
My best friend is an avid skateboarder and an engineer for Powell-Peralta skateboards. He is planning a book called Why Skateboarding is Better Than School. When he visited last year, he gave the entire family new boards. I’ve had such a blast playing around on mine this past year. And now, my kids (ages four and five) are starting to figure out how to zoom around too. Outfit your garage with toys like skateboards, scooters, and bikes. They offer a little daily beckon to get outside and get active.
Books:
As the old aphorism goes, “The man who does not read has no advantage over the man that cannot read.”
My dad was a college professor. Reading was the foremost norm in our household growing up. It was never a requirement, but we always received books for Christmas, my parents were always reading, and it seemed like every room had bookshelves full of books. I remember staring at those book cases with a sense of wonder for what might be inside (having maps and globes in the house, sparked a similar curiosity).
Today, I can’t help but read a few books at once. It is among the most important habits of my life, responsible for sparking passions, fueling creativity, and helping me to connect with many kindred spirits. Sometimes, I even use books to do this intentionally. For example, in hopes of helping me jump into a tennis hobby, I plan to read David Foster Wallace’s, On Tennis.
What is more, because I read habitually, it has never seemed like a very large hurdle to read a book in those times when I really wanted or needed to learn about a topic.
Reading related gifts are great too. Think book lights, kindles, Audible memberships, or a good book. And speaking of gifting books…
For the next three weeks, the hardcover version of Setting the Bar has been discounted from $21.99 to $15.99 and the e-book is only $1.99. Boom!
Experiences:
Seek gifts that create experiences. I’ll link two of my favorite articles that support this point:
In short, new possessions are quickly habituated so that they feel normal and we just want more. We can never keep up with the Joneses and there are always more Joneses with different things that we will want. Experiences, by contrast, change us. They expand what we think is possible, highlight new opportunities and perspectives, and spark interests. (And they don’t require you to buy a larger house).
Travel could fall under this umbrella. I’ve always loved the truism that you can’t have a thick passport and a narrow mind.
But this could also refer to purchases that lead to activities that the family does together. That could be horseback riding lessons, a paintball gift certificate, or board games. My five year old is finally ready for semi-interesting games like Connect Four and Yahtzee. After years of Hungry Hippos and Candy Land, that’s a game changer. For older kids, I love chess, Rummikub, and card games like Loot.
A magic set
Full disclosure, I never practiced magic. But this past week a guy started doing magic tricks for my kids in the super market (amazing to watch) and I was reminded that Tristan Harris credits magic for helping him understand psychological vulnerabilities at a young age. Sounds like this is a great portal for kids to develop an interest in psychology and a knack for performance. They will always have a good ice breaker and a great capacity to look at things from a novel perspective. What a gift!
Health-focused purchases:
Health-focused gifts are most likely for you and your spouse, but I firmly believe that any purchase that makes you healthier is going to be among the best gifts you can ever give your children. (Did you notice I put that in bold? That means it’s important).
Health stuff often seems expensive, but it saves you money in the long run (fewer hospital bills, etc.). What is more, most don’t realize that Americans spend less of their income on groceries than any other country in the world. Your family’s health is a value worth paying a tad more for and that begins with your own example.
My favorite health-focused purchase options include:
Levels: You may not be familiar with continuous glucose monitors (CGMs), but this is the game-changer in health awareness. CGMs like Levels sync to an app on your phone, showing you in real time how your blood sugar reacts to food, temperature, sleep, and all the stimuli in your daily life. This is the best way I know to get a personalized view of what foods are healthy for you and how you can improve your health with cold exposure, better foods, sleep, etc. Basically, you will finally know your own body way better than any doctor ever could in her once per year snapshot.
For more on Levels, CGMs, and more, here is an amazing podcast interview with Dr. Casey Means.
Inside Tracker: Expensive, but it gives you an even more thorough look at every component of your personal health. It `even tells you your inner age and gives you advice on how to lower it. So, yeah… this gift could make you younger.
A membership to a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu gym, a boxing gym, a climbing gym, a yoga studio, or some other niche local gym with a great culture. The most powerful health initiatives leverage social connection. Health-tech is neat, but there are things (like getting more active) that we all know we should do. Choosing the right subculture is probably the best way to do that.
A few kettlebells. Three makes a home gym. Go here to find the right weights.
Sport lessons. Think tennis, pickleball, fencing, golf, archery, etc.
A wake-up light alarm clock or other sleep tech.
A healthy food subscription.
A subscription for AG1 or my favorite cheaper alternative.
An at home cold plunge or sauna. The health benefits of both heat and cold are overwhelming, but these would be expensive gifts.
Any other really great gift ideas that I overlooked? Let me know.
Thank you for reading and sharing with any kindred spirits who would find this of value.
Have a wonderful weekend and a fantastic Christmas season!
Life is too short to be normal.
Shane