6-Year-Old Tosses ‘Stupid’ Present in Trash–So Mom Teaches Her a Lesson in Gratitude That Goes Viral

(Illustration - Aliaksandr Bukatsich/Shutterstock)

From the archives: This story was last updated in September 2019.

American children have numerous advantages over their peers in the developing world, from lower infant mortality rates to free schooling until age 18 and many, many more. But kids in the United States and other wealthy countries don’t always realize just how good they have it.

Because gratitude doesn’t always come naturally, one Florida mom decided her daughter needed to learn the important lesson of not taking what you have for granted.

Haley Hassell, who lives in Pensacola, is a young mother who not only takes care of her 6-year-old daughter, Presleigh, but also works as a server at a local restaurant to pay her way through Nursing School. As the 2019 school year started, this busy mom was thinking about buying her daughter something nice to have in her backpack.

Hassell went out and bought the item on many girls’ wish lists, a pink L.O.L. brand pencil case, which retailer Target promises will make you “the envy of your classmates.” As this thoughtful mom explained to Good Morning America, “I was trying to be nice and get her the cool one she wanted since she was nervous about starting first grade.”

Much to her chagrin, though, Hassell found out that when it comes to style-conscious kids, buying just the right thing is often a vain enterprise. After trawling through three different stores mobbed with parents hitting the back-to-school sales, Hassell’s gift wasn’t received in the spirit that it was given.

Hassell was thrilled with the purchase and anticipated the moment that her daughter Presleigh’s face would light up. But when the moment finally came, she was shocked. As Hassell posted on Facebook, Presleigh “stared at it and threw it in the trash and slammed the bedroom door.” As her stunned mom stood there in disbelief, the 6-year-old shouted, “That’s stupid, everyone in my class has that ... I don’t want it anymore!”

As for Hassell, it was all she could do to avoid having a temper tantrum of her own. “By this time there was probably smoke coming out of my ears,” she wrote in her Facebook rant. “I’m trying real hard not to completely lose it on this kid that I have worked so hard to completely take care of financially on my own.”

But rather than “going completely Madea mad,” as she put it, Hassell calmed herself down and responded with cleverness rather than rage. “She’s only 6 so I have to be flexible in how to handle it,” she told GMA. “I don’t want to break her heart, but also don’t want her to think she can act like that. It’s not how I was raised.”

While Hassell had always tried to impress the importance of being grateful on Presleigh, clearly her daughter needed a refresher course on being thankful for all that she had. That’s when the lightbulb went on and she found a brilliant alternative to the pencil case she had specifically searched for: a clear plastic ziploc bag.

Obviously, when Presleigh realized what her options were, she immediately regretted her childish outburst and begged her mom to have the once-despised L.O.L. bag back. From anger to tears, Presleigh had to dig the designer pencil bag out of the trash and, in a perfect twist, her mom told her that they would be giving it to a child in need. “I explained to her she’s not entitled to anything special and she is taking for granted how lucky she is,” Hassell wrote.

“You have to think about these things before you talk and act like that,” Hassell recalls telling her daughter in the Facebook post. “So for now, this is what you’re going to use and we are going to find someone who will be grateful for it.'”

The response on Facebook was nothing less than a viral chorus of parents backing Hassell up for her lesson. With over 133,000 likes to date, there was lots of support for her tough line on tantrums. With 60,000 shares and given the comments, it seems likely that other parents will be using similar tactics with their own kids.