It really is the most wonderful time of the year. The festivity, the joy and the spirit of the season are infectious. Not to mention the treats and the presents.
Of course, there's also a dark side of the season. A time that's supposed to be about giving has been too often corrupted by greed. There's no clearer example of this than Black Friday, which is not as awesome as you think.
How can you avoid having your children feed into the greed? Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis have an awesome solution for their children.
Side note: how cool is it that this onscreen couple from That '70s Shows wound up together in real life?
So what did they decide? Turns out they won't be giving their kids presents for Christmas. Seem a bit extreme? It makes sense when you hear them out.
In an interview, Kunis explained that Christmas had become an event within her Jewish family. She became concerned with how her children might view this time of year. She said, "Last year when we celebrated Christmas, Wyatt was two and it was too much."
This year, she said they weren't going to give their children anything. However, they won't be empty-handed. They're allowing their children's grandparents to give them one gift. This way, they can appreciate it and not just expect more and more stuff.
'Tis better to give than to receive, after all. Kunis and Kutcher want to instill a sense of charity into their children. They're hoping to remind them that this time of year is about paying it forward.
They don't want to force them to give to charity, however. They want to let them make their own decisions on what they'd like to give. Kunis tells her children, "We’d like to take a charitable donation like to a children’s hospital, whatever you want."
This is refreshing to hear. Those kids are lucky to first of all have celebrity parents, but especially parents with such good heads on their shoulders. Not all parents are this down to Earth when it comes to Christmas.
Mila Kunis is a very interesting person. She's doing her best to raise her kids the right way. Or, as she and Kutcher put it, they're determined to not "raise a**holes."
They're raising them right year-round, not just on Christmas. To combat boredom when they travel, Kunis says, "We have a public library card everywhere we go. When it is really hot outside, we go to the library and read books."
Kunis also joked about how their lives have changed since having their children:
"We used to be like, ‘What’s the coolest club?’ And [now] I’m like, ‘Let me tell you about the zoo in Atlanta and the bouncy house. There’s not one kid activity that I haven’t done yet with my child!"
Kunis explained why she and Kutcher are parenting this way:
"It's so important because we both came from pretty solid poverty backgrounds and grew up very poor and are very much self-made and are very aware of what a dollar is worth. Nothing's been handed to us."
"It's a matter of teaching them from a very early age that 'Mommy and Daddy may have a dollar, but you're poor. You are not rich. You are very poor. You have nothing. Mommy and Daddy have a bank account.'"
This celebrity couple is committed to instilling principles and morals into their offspring. Glad they won't grow up to be incredibly spoiled. Cause those kids are simply the worst.