With Mother’s Day and Father’s Day coming up, questions about gift giving arise for divorced parents with young children. Should the parent buy a gift for the X on behalf of the child or just forget the whole thing? When a child is too young to buy a gift themselves, the parent should buy a gift on behalf of the child… but, part of the process should be that the child accompanies the parent or step parent and participates in choosing the gift. Often the parent just wants to get it over with so buys a gift and says, “I bought this for you to give to your mom.” That doesn’t teach a child about thoughtfulness, unselfishness and consideration for others. Taking the child to purchase a gift presents an opportunity to talk about the other parents interests, likes and dislikes and to bond during conversation. It also demonstrates that although the child’s parents are divorced they continue to respect each other and share their love of the child. It’s a valuable lesson.