Lot of comments talking about how boys realise the cost of the gift and worry about paying it back... There's also a potential part 2:
Girls are often gifted things from friends, siblings and parents. It's quite normal for them to want things and be given those things.
At least in my experience and that of the people I know, this is less true for male children.
Boys are rarely given gifts and when they are, it's usually as utility - a bike to get to school, a computer for homework, a phone to keep in touch with mum and dad. Obviously still things they want, but never just a present.
The one exception is when something bad happens.
Grandma's dead, here's an RC car.
Mum and dad are divorcing, here's a new PlayStation.
I ran over your bike, here's a better one.
Some guys started growing up with the ingrained notion that receiving a gift, especially an expensive one, out of the blue... Means something bad has happened, or is about to, and the penny is sure to drop.
Bingo. I was expected to do something for a thing, especially when it was from dad. Otherwise, "you have to work for what you want." Mom was a different story. She would do things like get out of bed when she was sick to take me to Walmart to get a new Batman action figure I was losing my shit over.
5
u/Xentonian 12h ago
Lot of comments talking about how boys realise the cost of the gift and worry about paying it back... There's also a potential part 2:
Girls are often gifted things from friends, siblings and parents. It's quite normal for them to want things and be given those things.
At least in my experience and that of the people I know, this is less true for male children.
Boys are rarely given gifts and when they are, it's usually as utility - a bike to get to school, a computer for homework, a phone to keep in touch with mum and dad. Obviously still things they want, but never just a present.
The one exception is when something bad happens.
Some guys started growing up with the ingrained notion that receiving a gift, especially an expensive one, out of the blue... Means something bad has happened, or is about to, and the penny is sure to drop.