Do you gift your grandchildren when one daughter has no children?

Jane_B

We had this issue in our family, my father was one of three, he had 2 children (myself and my brother) one aunt had 4 kids, and the other aunt none.

The aunt with no children did feel a bit upset (reasonably or not) when it came to gifting a large chunk of money when I was around 23. My gran gave all grandchildren £20k each, my aunt felt this technically meant my fathers family got £40k and my other aunts family got £80k, whereas she had nothing.

After this my nan gave the gifts to her children, and they then decided whether to pass this down to their kids (which they did) but it meant less upset all round.

pickledonionspaceraider

I know someone who has one child and their sibling has three - as the grandparent sees it as the parents own choice to have however many kids they had, and are intent on a 50/50 split of presents at xmas, between households


For example...The person with one child - their child will get £150 spent on them at xmas


The person with three kids, their children get £50 each spent on them at xmas


Each to their own

happyandcontented

I think that birthday and Christmas gifts are one thing but when it comes to wills that can become an issue. My MIL has extended the substantial bequests down to great-grandchildren of which there are 4 on one side and none on the other.

Couldsavemore

I have 1 child, my sister has none.

My parents buy my son presents.

If the shoe was on the other foot... I'd be horrified if they didn't buy the child a present!

Mind you.. my parents buy my dog a present... again sister is dogless and never comments.

My parents buy her husband a present. I don't have a husband. I think it would be weird if they ignored him at christmas.

boliston

if it's large sums of money then it should be split evenly between siblings regardless of how many kids they have - someone should not gain a larger share of the family wealth just because they get 'sprogged up'

MrsStepford

When my maternal grandmother died, my brother and I got nothing. My uncle's ex-wife used a solicitor to write a letter to my grandmother's executor (my father) demanding that my cousins got a share of her estate. My father wrote back, explaining that my grandmother had divided her estate between her son and daughter only. My ex-aunt didn't like it but that was that.


My mother says that she is dividing her estate between my brother and I. He has three daughters with first wife and two-stepdaughters. As they reach 18 my mother stops buying presents for them. They aren't hard done by because all the parents, grandparents, step-parents and step grandparents have all given them presents and have had a whipround for (a) cars (b) gap year travels. My mother says they are spoiled and never say thank you for anything.