Kids & MM | Imamother

amother

Burgundy

Sat, Feb 18 2017, 11:49 pm

What's your policy on your kids' MM?
DC is 4 and I think old enough to start giving, but I'm not sure what, how many, how much $ to spend, which friends to give to...

amother

Blonde

Sat, Feb 18 2017, 11:54 pm

My policy is that my kids begin to give mm when they initiate, meaning, when they ask.

When dd was 9 she wanted to give. I asked her what she'd like to give and that's how it went :-)

Im a child-led enthusiast :-)

Rutabaga

Sun, Feb 19 2017, 12:01 am

At age 4, how many friends are there? If you want your child to give for chinuch reasons then have him/her pick one or two children to give to. Make sure that they live nearby so you're not schlepping out of your way.

Make a small package of completely sealed foods with a good hechsher unless you are friendly with the families and know they will eat your food. Be careful of allergies! Maybe give the mothers of the children your child chooses to give to a heads up so they can prepare a reciprocal m"m for your child and not scramble at the last minute.

Don't spend a lot of money and don't go overboard with the amount of food or type of container. IY"H your child will be giving m"m for many years and the costs will only go up. Start small and don't raise expectations.

33055

Sun, Feb 19 2017, 12:02 am

I also let my kids decide. They can give as many as they like to the neighborhood kids, those who show up, and friends in families who we are giving to. They are limited to those we will drive to. If their friends live near where we are going anyway, they can give. We make runs only for a couple of friends each.

The kids give a modified version of what I give.

flowerpower

Sun, Feb 19 2017, 12:06 am

I make a certain amount of kids mm and divide it between the kids.... My preschooler will give like 3- 2 cousins her age and one neighbor. I get cheap
Nosh from the local store and a cute bag.

amother

Burgundy

Sun, Feb 19 2017, 12:06 am

A lot of her friends, we'd be giving to their families anyway, so it wouldn't be an extra trip....

singleagain

Sun, Feb 19 2017, 12:18 am

When I was a kid, my parents simply let each of us kids give the mm to our friends. When we got older if we wanted to give st different that was up to us.

seeker

Sun, Feb 19 2017, 2:15 am

I like child-led in many things but this is one of those areas where I feel that proactive structuring helps avert disappointment and disasters. If my kids want to counter my suggestion then I'm open to discussion but I like to give them a starting point. Here's what it's looked like so far:

preschool - I let DD be the one to hand the MM to a recipient (family friend/relative).
4-5 years old - I asked DD before Purim to pick a few friends to give to. We also prepared a few extras in case one of her other friends came to the house while we were home.
first grade - DD now has a large class with friends in different neighborhoods. I suggested that this year we give to all the friends in our neighborhood and just stick to the neighborhood. She was fine with that. If she wasn't we'd have to rethink it but for now I feel lucky. It also helps that only a few of her friends/classmates are in the neighborhood.

I take the kids with me to Amazing Savings to pick out little bags - I show them the size to choose from and they each pick a design. The nosh shopping I do out of concern that it will be too overwhelming for them, plus I prefer not to take them to the supermarket if I can help it, and I like to steer toward the healthier/less junky side which would be harder if I had them in an aisle full of Purim specials. For each MM I buy one bag of corn pops/chips/crackers and one other thing (this year it's apple juice boxes because that's what was on sale when I was shopping.) I want my kids' MM to not be nebby but at the same time I don't want to endorse junk food overdosing, so I like to also put in a non-edible prize - like stickers. And we dress it up with lots of curling ribbon.

In all, each one costs about $1. So far I seem to be making about 10 per year, including the spares.

Ruchel

Mon, Feb 20 2017, 12:16 pm

At school they have to trade one. That's it. We certainly wouldn't consider an extra trip to give someone we wouldn't be seeing.

amother

Periwinkle

Mon, Feb 20 2017, 12:36 pm

My six year old will give to his three best friends, his brothers, and anyone else that happens to come to our house and give him. My 2 year old will give his best friend and his neighbor and his brothers. I make 12--juice box, pretzels, lolly pop in simple bags. The kids feel very good doing it.