Why You Give

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What You Give

The gift-giving and receiving
of the holiday season calls for
special attention.

his month and next, shop-
ping malls and boutiques
across the land will be full to
the rafters, selling every-
thing from just about everywhere.
The holiday season has become a
modern mercantile phenomenon
that rivals the extraordinary
wonders of ancient worlds.
The intoxicating spices of the ex-
otic Orient have nothing on the
scents and sachets wafting through
your nearest perfume counter. The
most vibrant colors of the Hanging
Gardens of Babylon would pale next
to any store's sweater selection. And

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BY LINDA R. BENSON

every American kid between the
ages of five and fifteen knows that
with enough "AA" batteries, there
are electronic games that enable you
to slay prehistoric monsters and
conquer alien worlds.

Holidays, and the gifts that go
hand in hand with the celebration of
them, are for children. Although the
plethora of riches is enough to daz-

zle the most well organized and
determined "giftor," there are
guidelines to find appropriate gifts
for those who matter the most.
Like talking and toilet training,
there are certain levels of gift
readiness. Gifts are, after all, prop-
erty.
"Kids start to understand the
concept of property when they go to
school and start to interact with
others," says Stephen Kwass, M.D.,
a child psychiatrist and psychoana-
lyst and a member of the faculty at
the Baltimore-Washington Institute
for Psychoanalysis.