My daughter (14) wrote a giant list for her birthday, but at the top was something called a Dyson Airwrap. She’s quite into tiktokers and youtube and had a bunch of things related to that listed. I was tempted to get what she asked for, but when I saw the price tag I backed off. I feel like that sort of price for what boils down to a hair dryer isn’t a sutiable thing for a girl her age. Instead I purchased some of the more minor things on her list, got her what looked to be a nice hairdryer so she wouldn’t have to use the family one, and some hair rollers.
When she opened her gift, she was immediately sullen and went silent. She didn’t bother to thank me or her Mother, then eventually went off to her room and didn’t come out for a while. Later that week an argument broke out over her behaviour and she went off at everyone over what she considered a grand injustice.
Last year as a reward for doing well on his exams I purchased my son, Aaron (16), a lego set he had been coveting for quite a while. He has had a lifelong obsession with lego and had been struggling with depression and anxiety a lot over the entire year. Aaron not only complete his exams, but doing so well, inspired me to get him something I knew he had been eyeing all year long. The set WAS expensive (I’ll admit it cost more than the hairdryer my daughter desired), but it really perked him up and I felt like he needed it.
My daughter feels that it’s a crime that I got Aaron something like that “unprompted”, while not going above and beyond for her own birthday. I think that she is being incredibly immature and the situations just aren’t the same, but she still is going around acting like a kicked dog and drumming up sympathy with extended family who she felt the need to text about her plight.
How do I settle this?