by Jimmy Nightingale

Created on: June 03, 2008

As a father of four children, there is no such thing as a bad Father's Day present. Every gift or trinket is wonderful and a true delight to have and behold.

Well, that's what my children would believe from the rapt expression on my face as I unwrap their little treasure. I have endured my fair share of what most people would probably call 'crap' presents, but I do value even these items. The simple fact that my child has thought highly enough of me to want to buy me a present, or make one, is reward enough.

Children have little idea of grandiose concepts such as usefulness or suitability. Funnily enough, it is the more obscure gifts that I tend to remember. For instance, a couple of years ago my 8 year old son bought me a hand painted ceramic toadstool with a frog on it. It is a very cheaply made thing and I imagine that it was intended as either a garden or terrarium ornament. In a nutshell, it is as ugly as sin and the sort of thing you could easily hide away in some obscure corner of the garage or discard completely.

Not me. It was on a shelf beside my workstation and every second visitor to my desk would ask about it. Every time I looked at it, it reminded me of my son. His logic behind the present was a simple melding of a couple of our favorite things. At the time, he was into frogs and I've always liked to eat mushrooms (well, toadstools and mushrooms are both fungi) so there was considerable thought put into his purchase. That was enough to make me smile and it makes me feel loved to just look at his gift. That's not the kind of warm fuzzy feeling that you would get from something like a box of chocolates.

So, a bad present need not necessarily be so, it is really a matter of perspective. There is also another angle to view a bad present, and that is in terms of suitability. A bad present doesn't have to be awful to fall within the gamut of 'bad', it could also be unsuitable, perhaps even embarrassing. Children tend to have minds like sponges and will remember even the most obscure detail, so it pays to be prudent and careful when it comes to making comments about things. And this goes for your other half too. Seemingly innocent remarks can come back to haunt you, as these 'bad' Father's Day gifts prove (and yes, these are actual Father's Day gifts):

1. Soap and/or deodorant - there used to be a soap ad here in Australia with the by-line, "Don't wait to be told...You need Palmolive Gold". And yes, it means that you stink. Your little one has picked up

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