What do you buy a nearly 14-year-old daughter for Christmas?\nDoes anyone know the answer to this question? That is the dilemma my wife and I\nare facing this December. Because it doesn\u2019t appear there\u2019s an easy answer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The landscape has changed dramatically in just a year or two,\nand it seems all of the old standbys and easy go-tos have withered away. I\u2019m\nnot sure what they\u2019ve been replaced by. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat do you think we should get her?\u201d my wife asked at\nlunch the other day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGet her?!?\u201d I replied. \u201cShoot, I\u2019m not even sure who \u2018her\u2019\nis anymore!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Any ideas?!? I don\u2019t have any. Zero! I asked a colleague with\nolder daughters what he does and he told me, \u201cgift cards and cash, dude. Just\ngo with gift cards and cash. Anything else and you\u2019re ASKING for trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I don\u2019t know anything about this age. This period in life.\nThis is all new to me. When I turned 14, I think I was still playing with G.I.\nJoe figures and accepting bulk orders of Legos that needed to be delivered in\ndump trucks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Times were simpler back then. There were things you could\nbuy called cassette tapes or CDs when you wanted to listen to music. Remember\nthat? You had to physically BUY them \u2026 AT A STORE! I wouldn\u2019t even know how to\nbuy music today. Normally, I just walk into my living room, say out loud,\n\u201cAlexa, play so-and-so\u201d and music magically appears out of the firmament for\nfree. I don\u2019t know how. I don\u2019t know from where. I have a theory it has\nsomething to do with quantum mechanics, but I don\u2019t actually know what that is.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Computers weren\u2019t really a thing back then. When I was a kid,\nall I had was one of those early Nintendo game consoles that you needed game\ncartridges for. You bought these games at a store in a mall, or from a sketchy\nkid at school named \u201cNerd Bag.\u201d He had Doritos perpetually gummed up in his\nbraces and smelled like burned fish. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The graphics looked like they had been designed by a drunken\nmouse who had run across some slumbering programmer\u2019s keyboard. On Christmas\nmorning, you would unwrap one or two of these game cartridges, and then climb\ninto your room like a bear retreating for hibernation, not to be seen again until\nApril \u2026 when you would need more game cartridges. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are no cartridges today. My daughter plays Sims or who\nknows what else on her computer, and she asks for expansion packs or \u201cmods\u201d or\ngoths or jocks or some other term I don\u2019t understand. You don\u2019t go anywhere to\nbuy these. I just pretty much walk into my living room and say out loud,\n\u201cAlexa, buy so-and-so,\u201d and then in the other room I hear, \u201cThanks, dad!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Quantum mechanics, I assume. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
You don\u2019t hold anything in your hand. You don\u2019t pass anyone\nmoney. I\u2019m not even sure these things we buy actually exist. They\u2019re phone apps\nor virtual-this or digital-thats. I half expect to see a Christmas list this\nyear that requests cryptocurrency deposits in a virtual Swiss bank account. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then the other day I got the shock of a lifetime. The answer\nto my dilemma. Unprompted, my daughter said, \u201cYou know what I want for\nChristmas this year? Some donations to wildlife organizations and anyone trying\nto stop poaching in Africa.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The air wheezed out of my lungs, and I gave a little cough. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSay again?\u201d I said, after I regained consciousness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe world is dying, you know?\u201d she said. \u201cSo that\u2019s what I\nwant.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dangggggg! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yep, never expected that. And I can get behind it, too. The\nbest part? All I have to do is walk into my living room and say out loud,\n\u201cAlexa, give some money to people fighting poaching.\u201d Then out of the\nfirmament, thanks to quantum mechanics, it just happens. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
What do you buy a nearly 14-year-old daughter for Christmas? Does anyone know the answer to this question? That is the dilemma my wife and I are facing this December. Because it doesn\u2019t appear there\u2019s an easy answer. <\/p>\n
The landscape has changed dramatically in just a year or two, and it seems all of the old standbys and easy go-tos have withered away. I\u2019m not sure what they\u2019ve been replaced by. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you think we should get her?\u201d my wife asked at lunch the other day.<\/p>\n
\u201cGet her?!?\u201d I replied. \u201cShoot, I\u2019m not even sure who \u2018her\u2019 is anymore!\u201d <\/p>\n
Any ideas?!? I don\u2019t have any. Zero! I asked a colleague with older daughters what he does and he told me, \u201cgift cards and cash, dude. Just go with gift cards and cash. Anything else and you\u2019re ASKING for trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[575,562,561,556,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2019-nutshells","category-childhood","category-family","category-holidays","category-parenthoodandchildren"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2010"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2010\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2011,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2010\/revisions\/2011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}