kids

Do you really have to wear the crappy presents from your kids?

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Mother’s Day has been and gone for another year. And in the wash-up, there’s a glaring issue that needs to be addressed.

Do I really have to wear the crappy, plastic pearls my daughter brought me from the Mother’s Day stall?

Hear Holly and Andrew Daddo talk about the obligation to wear crappy gifts, here:

I don’t mean to be ungrateful. I adore my daughter and all the love she gave me last Sunday. Seriously, there are few better ways to start the day than unfolding 25 teeny tiny scraps of papers that say ‘I wuv you mum  – matilba xxxx’

I love, love, loved it.

And I love that my daughter thinks I need to look “fancy” for my job so she bought me a string of pearls.

But now the pressure's on. "Mummy, why aren't you wearing your necklace?" she's asked me every day this week when I walk in the door.

"Mummy, you really need to wear your necklace. I got it for you because I love you, and if you loved me you would wear it," she finished with, really turning up the guilt factor.

The Pearl Necklace is the equivalent of that ugly scarf your mother-in-law got you for your birthday and you feel you have to wear when people come to visit.

Or the horrible painting you got from a friend that you would never choose for yourself and now you're super conscious their eyes are searching for it every time they come over.

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Do you really have to embrace the unwanted gift? Whoever it's from?

Of course, I am a soft touch. But I am also vain. So yesterday, I left for work wearing the pearls, and took them off on the bus.

This is exactly the strategy I used to employ in reverse when I was a naughty teenager. I left the house in my sensible school shoes, and changed into my super-cool winkle-pickers (it was the 80s,after all) enroute.

And I made the same classic mistake on re-entry. I forgot to put the necklace back on before I walked in the door. Just as my teenage self forgotten to reapply the school shoes.

Both times: Busted.

Do you HAVE to wear the crappy presents given to you by people you love? 

Listen to the full episode of The Glorious Mess below, where we meet the Queensland mum who made worldwide news when she placed an ad in the births deaths and marriages, as well as what happened when Daddo's teenager said "You'd be disappointed if I was gay...wouldn't you?" For more episodes find us on iTunes, the Mamamia Podcast App (iOS only), or via your favourite podcast app.