Clay Humphries - age 13 - picture by Jula Studio
I had an interesting conversation with my stud 13 year old son Clay. He was trying to figure out what he wanted for Christmas, and he slyly dropped the hint about Dr. Dre’s headphones. For my “advanced generational” friends, these headphones resemble your 8-track headphones, slightly smaller, and cost close to $200! I slyly countered with a stronger hint that he was smoking wacky leaf if he thought I was going to drop $200 on any one item for someone I’m not married to, and if I was smoking the wacky leaf, I wouldn’t be that off my rocker to spend it on headphones that some idiot is going to steal or break in the locker room anyway!
He then dropped the bomb on me. He told me he didn’t want a video game! What!?! No video game?!! You mean you don’t want the newest Modern Warfare? No Madden 2012? What about Nerf guns, or a football, or remote car?!? How can this be?!? I’m sitting here completely stunned, not knowing what course of action to take.
My son has failed to realize that his gifts are not completely for him, but they, in large, are for his father to enjoy as well! I’m 41, I can’t go out and buy toy guns! Even if I enjoy Nerf action with the young ones, its just not proper for me to purchase these items without drawing the unwanted attention of authorities. If my only son abandons the treasure of childhood gifts, I’m stuck with a household full of Barbies and hair products for years to come! He can’t give up on the toys yet, I need those products of youthful masculinity to keep my head straight while the girls are growing up!
After I killed the vision of jammin in style on his iPhone, he went totally blank on what he wanted. Cash? No. iTunes gift card? No. Red Rider BB Gun? I’ll shoot my eye out! Nothing seemed to work, which I know is the age old strategy of getting the headphones anyway. Not going to happen. But what he might find under the tree is a remote control helicopter with a blow dart gun! We, I mean he, should enjoy it!
If you have any ideals on what to get a 13 year old young man for Christmas give it up!
Amos is the pastor at Park Lake Drive Baptist Church in Waco, Texas. He is married to Mariah, and they have three children: Clay, Juliane, and Hannah. Mariah keeps Amos cool and up-to-date, while Amos keeps Mariah loose and occasionally frustrated. 
