WWYD if 7 yo's holiday list is exclusively electronic crap?

[aisraeltax]

i will try to be as complete as possible. my 7 yo ds2 plays with dolls, his kitchen, wooden blocks, legos, stuffed animals, train table, etc. IMHO he is very well balanced re: electronic crap vs. imaginative toys.
i have purchased some of his gifts for the holidays, mostly wooden toys, wooden food for his kitchen, a new realiistic doll b/c of our new baby, a few other things that i know he will enjoy (he's a baseball fanatic, etc.). nothign i have purchased thus far is electronic other than one computer game (he LOVES the Backyard baseball, soccer, hockey, etc. and i purchased the 2006 hockey one).
the other thing is that i am Jewish but his dad is Catholic (dh is catholic also), so we celebrate both.
well, ds2's "letter to santa" includes ONLY electronic stuff!!!! ps2, video now, etc. etc. etc. His father is so different than i am in all aspects of parenting, and most of the things that he purchases for ds2 are electronic, plastic and just stuff that i would never purchase.
i dont want to not get ds2 anything that is on his list but of all the things on his list, none of them are in sync with my preferences. i dont want to buy something electronic (video now, e.g.,) when we have the same thing (he has access to a dvd and video tape play). but, i also don't believe the holidays is simply my opportunity to dictate his toy preferences...i feel i should at least get him something on the "list".
WWYD?
rach

[zinemama]

Hmm, we have never given "the list" option and I see what a can of worms it can open! I'd say that if you know his dad is going to get him electronic stuff anyway, and you've already gotten him a computer game, then you can consider that base covered. I don't think it's dictating his toy preferences to get him non-electronic stuff if it's the kind of thing you know he'd enjoy. Wooden toys just for the sake of wooden toys isn't right, but if he's really into them, why not?

I would get him something he's never had before, though. What about legos? Seems like a 7yo would love that and there are all kinds of neat set-ups you can get.

[Red]

First, I have to agree with zinemama. Legos or Playmobil for a 7yo boy is absolutely the best way to spend those bucks. He'll use them way past the age you'd think was 'normal'!

I use the list as a guide, not a bible. And I brainwash my kids. While they make their lists, I throw the catalogs I like out on the table. Kids are impulsive. Let it work for you.

Also, why not say, "Hey, we only get ONE electronic toy here on the holidays, ok? What else would you like?"

We always get a sled, cause it takes up room. and a puzzle or game. And next year....haha....I'm going to try to get then to think a bit smaller! Though they do get the idea about the time they start college. (and my 3rd does in the fall!)

[aisraeltax]

i forgot to add that i have already purchased some legos, playmobile, and magnetix (?), so those things are all set. he absolutely loves those types of things and i know he will love the wooden things (i got the middle eastern and russian block sets..they are on sale at kidsurplus.com, so i got him a lot of those things).
my concern is that NONE of the things i have for him thus far/or am planning to get him are on his "list" (the list has always been done for fun, and not really something that I go by...but there is usually SOMETHING on there that i get him).
His dad tells him Santa exists (I never told ds1 that Santa existed) so he expects Santa will get him "something". I always slip and say "is dad going to get you that?" he usually responds "no, but santa will".
i guess i could ask him to add somet things to his list this week and try to "encourage" him to add some of the things i have already gotten him or that i intend to get him.

[LovemyBoo]

If it were me I'd get one, not-too-expensive, thing off of the list unless I were really morally opposed to all the gifts on the list. I feel a 7 year old is old enough to have a preference. It's certainly not necessary to get everything but I'd respect my son's wishes and tell him that he can get one thing on the list so he may want to narrow it down to the 2 or 3 things he really wants (and I'd tell him which stuff was too $$$ and we can't get this year).

I think gift giving ought to be, at least in part, about what the person receiving the gift wants. If my kid wants a bunch of crappy, plastic, battery powered, electronic stuff then I'll respect that and get him at least one thing, and I'd pass the list on to my mom or sisters (after taking off the stuff I really hate) and they'd get him one more thing. I get my kids good stuff and most of the things I request of family is good, non-electronic toys. One or two crappy things that may likely get thrown out before the year is done won't hurt anything if it's what he wants.

How would you feel if someone asked you want you wanted for Christmas, you gave them some ideas, and they completely ignored you and got what THEY wanted to give you instead. Even if you liked what they got wouldn't you wonder why they bothered to ask you in the first place? I think once kids are old enough to express a preference, that preference should be honored to a reasonable extent.

[2GR8KIDS]

: I'm in a similar situation. The only thing my 6-year-old ds has mentioned wanting is a Roboraptor. I really don't want to get him one- I know it will only hold his attention a few minutes and it would require most of what I have budgeted for him for Christmas so he wouldn't get much else. I agree with PPs who have said we should respect our kids' wishes, at least to some extent, as they get older, rather than getting them stuff we want them to have. But I can't quite bring myself to do it. I got him the mini version of the Roboraptor (which he will probably be somewhat disappointed at) and then had money left to buy him other things I think he will like. I am bracing myself for some disappointment on Christmas morning, but I plan to tell him that if he really wants the Roboraptor he can spend his saved allowance on it, and we can probably find it on sale after Christmas.

[Irishmommy]

Well if mom and dad don't get it, maybe Santa will!!! It's a WISH list anyway, not a shopping list.