Say Gerv? I’m a brand new father, and my kid, my wife and I got a lot of gifts at the baby shower and after my kids birth that we’re never gonna use. Can I re-gift any of them to someone as a Christmas gift?
-Evan, North End, MA
Evan, what is this? The gift that keeps on giving? Now I won’t lie. I’ve re-gifted a couple of times, ok a lot of times before. The way I look at it is this.
Why toss a gift in the garage to collect dust that you don’t like or want. It’s even worse to throw it away so why not give it to someone who will really enjoy it or not. The person you’re giving the gift to will never know you didn’t go out and handpick it yourself. They won’t know that you didn’t put the time and effort into finding it. They won’t know you didn’t put any thought into it.
Hmmm, so I guess that saying means it really doesn’t count. Geez this is starting to sound bad Evan. And I just admitted that I’m a notorious re-gifter. Thanks a lot buddy, smh. Ok so what did we learn today?
Re-gifting is ok unless you do it a lot, but putting the time and effort into finding the perfect gift is more rewarding. And that if you got a gift from me it probably came from someone else.
But don’t worry Evan, I tend to get a lot of nice gifts from a lot of various folks, some of which –for reasons we shall not discuss at this time- it is in my better interest to pass along to someone like yourself.
Hey, you can always use those old gifts for Pollyanna or Dirty Santa.
Say Gerv? My best friend, my co-worker and I all hung out together. Now they hang out without me doing things I’m not interested in. Can I make them stop?
-Karen, Boston, MA
Karen, do you need a tissue or a glass of water? Come on man! You’re jealous because your BFF and your co-worker hang together without you?
It’s time to man up Karen. It’s not like they both stopped hanging out with you altogether. It’s obvious they have a few things in common that they don’t have with you. People bond over connections. By not including you maybe they know that you wouldn’t enjoy those things.
But this is good for you Karen, you know why? Because now you can broaden your horizons, accentuate your positives and spread your wings. In other words, you can start doing thing that aren’t in your comfort zone.
Let them know that the next time they hang out to include you and show them that you can be just as fun as a cosplayer at comic con. Indulge in things that aren’t in your wheelhouse. Compromise a little and invite them to do things that interest you.
You may even surprise yourself on how cool you can potentially be.
Say Gerv? My son is 10 years old and my daughter is 11 years old and they want to get on social media. What’s a good age to let them join?
–Marie, Beacon Hill, MA
Marie, that’s a decision you’ll have to make based on your situation. I tried to keep my kids off social media as long as could. My main concern wasn’t my kids posting or tweeting things they shouldn’t.
It was other people posting or tweet inappropriate things that my kids could see or posting inappropriate things on their pages. And if that happened, I would’ve acted like Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction “post something to my kids page again, I dare you, I double dare you mofo! Post something one more $@# *€¥$ time!” Yea that wouldn’t have been pretty.
Marie, whenever you’re ready to let your kids on social media you’ll have to do your due diligence. Check their pages, know who’s friending them, limit their time on social media. It can be a fun experience and a great way for the family to keep up with what’s going on in their lives.
But just like anything good it can get twisted to the dark side if you’re not on top of it. Just have a conversation with the kids, set your expectations and let them know the consequences if they don’t handle things responsibly. Good luck!
***
Gervase Peterson has made history as the first African-American male in the #1 all-time reality series Survivor. Hollywood is no stranger to Gervase as well after appearing and co-hosting with several national television programs.
