Your parents were horrible, horrible people. You are a good mom to question that reaction and recalibrate it for your child.

Don't punish the child. It's an unfair amount of self control that you expected of him. Curiosity is a natural and good. How sweet that he's trying to keep the secret so you don't know that he knows.

(BTW, my husband's family went to midnight Mass without him one Christmas eve while the gifts were under the tree, tempting him. He unwrapped all of his gifts, wrapped them up again before they got home, and they never knew. No harm no foul.)

Peeking at Christmas gifts is a time honored tradition.

I honestly do not get the big deal. I probably figured out what I was getting 70%+ of the time as a kid. It's not like he opened it and played with it.

I would not mess with him or return the gift. He's happy and excited. My DD is too young to understand, but the best present in the world for me would be my kid being happy and excited about something I did for three weeks!

Anonymous wrote:Your parents sound horrible.

No punishment. He's 9, for goodness sakes! All kids try to peak at presents. Most parents don't punish them for natural curiosity. I'm so sad your parents did.

You, however, are a good parent for questioning your instincts and getting a reality check.

Merry Christmas!

This. Sounds like he's thrilled by the gift!!

Anonymous wrote:You told your kid not to look into a bag with his Christmas toys? Of course he's going to look. You should do a better job of keeping his gifts hidden.

I agree with this. It is too much to ask a 9 year old to not look in a bag. You need to hide the gifts,

Be happy that you know your son so well that you can pick something he really, really loves. You must have a great relationship. That little dance he did sounds wonderful.

Hide it in a box with clothes on top. I did that with a game console once and it was a riot watching him push aside that box and find it later after opening the rest.

Anonymous wrote:Awww, he thinks he's being sneaky and giving you kisses and skipping around? My heart just grew three sizes! You just need to be a better gift hider now.

I would pull a mind game now, like put everything else under the tree but that gift and then say you were all done and tease him a little bit. Or wrap up a picture of the gift in a tiny box so he is going bonkers trying to figure out what happened to the big box. But that's just me.

Yeah, that part of the OP was too cute!

No. I hunted like mad for my Christmas presents when I was a kid. It's part of being a child, I think.

I'd probably make it seem iffy that he is getting it. Like leave it out in the open with a big sign on it on the bag that says, "TO DONATE AT WORK FOR THE NEEDY FAMILY." I'd let him worry a bit about it.

Anonymous wrote:Awww, he thinks he's being sneaky and giving you kisses and skipping around? My heart just grew three sizes! You just need to be a better gift hider now.

I would pull a mind game now, like put everything else under the tree but that gift and then say you were all done and tease him a little bit. Or wrap up a picture of the gift in a tiny box so he is going bonkers trying to figure out what happened to the big box. But that's just me.

That's me, too! I like your idea about putting a picture of the gift in a small box. You've got a good kid who is a peeker. My mother was notorious for this so my dad had us hiding her presents all over the house. It became a family joke. I like to guess what my husband is giving me. He has developed quite the poker face.

Anonymous wrote:The punishment is that he won't be surprised on Christmas day.

And next time, if you want something to be a surprise, hide it. You pretty much set him up to look in the bag by telling him not to.

+1. Who leaves a bag out and tells someone not to look? I'm 34 and I'd sneak a peek!

Anonymous wrote:He's a kid. Kids poke around and do the opposite of what you say. Clearly he's very excited about the gift, I would never not give it to him and return it. Not a punishable offense. If you want to make him sweat wrap it, but hide it somewhere else Christmas morning (think the bb gun on A Christmas Story). Let him open everything else and give that after.

+1. Don't let on that you know. I used to unwrap and re-wrap all the presents under the tree. LOL....
Kids get excited! That is the fun of being young!!!!

Anonymous wrote:Awww, he thinks he's being sneaky and giving you kisses and skipping around? My heart just grew three sizes! You just need to be a better gift hider now.

I would pull a mind game now, like put everything else under the tree but that gift and then say you were all done and tease him a little bit. Or wrap up a picture of the gift in a tiny box so he is going bonkers trying to figure out what happened to the big box. But that's just me.

OP here - That is how I felt, Awwww....It really doesn't bother me that he saw the gift.

I think my parents, mom especially, always had this Norman Rockwell picture in her head for the holidays and then was of course miserable that we, her family, couldn't pull it off. Starting at about 11-years old to this day, I hate Christmas with my parents. My mom would lock herself in her room for three days and my dad would throw the Christmas tree fully decorated, ornaments & all, in the front yard because Christmas wasn't right. (ugh, now that I say it it is almost as miserable as the girl in Gremlins whose father died in the chimney dressed as Santa)

Usually I hid gifts in our luggage, even put my husbands there. The bag hadn't made it in the house yet & it must have been too tempting when he put his backpack in the car.

I would probably make him sweat and wrap a small note saying where the hiding place was for the present. That way, he'll keep wondering where it is, since there's nothing that looks the right size/shape under the tree.

But, maybe I'm mean. My parents did something like that for me one year (I think because my mom didn't want to waste wrapping paper on a large gift) and I remember being super excited about it when I opened the small present.