- In a recent podcast interview, Kim Kardashian revealed the simple gift she gives her kids each year.
- Kardashian reportedly writes a multi-page letter chronicling the year each kid had.
- Kardashian has four children with ex-husband Kanye West: North, 9; Saint, 7; Chicago, 5; and Psalm, 4.
It's easy to want to dunk on the Kardashians—especially for their love of excessive celebrations or their flair for elaborate exaggerations—but in this one case, we have to hand it to Kim on one specific matter: it does appear that she has created a sweet, sincere birthday tradition for her kids that doesn't cost a cent.
In an appearance on Jay Shetty's On Purpose podcast, Kim, 42, explained that she's made a habit of writing each kid a letter on their birthday, recapping the past year. Kardashian, who has four kids with ex-husband Kanye West, told Shetty why this simple tradition has such an impact on both her and the kids:
"It's so fun to see from the first year, now one of them is almost 10 years old," Kardashian explained on the show, noting that the birthday letter "includes who their friends are, 'silly words' they're saying, their favorite foods, and the 'silly things' they do." She says that she knows they'll appreciate all of this when they're older, even when they might now think she's "being harsh or over-protective as a parent."
Using birthdays as an opportunity to reflect and capture a moment in time isn't an odd or uncommon idea. This past year, an Oscar-nominated documentary, How Do You Measure A Year?, was comprised entirely of footage filmmaker Jay Rosenblatt recorded of his daughter answering questions every year on her birthday. Decades earlier, Soviet filmmaker Nikita Mikhalkov did something similar in his work Anna: 6 - 18.
Now, in those instances, capturing those moments on film was something unique (and not always welcome) by the kids in question, but for the Kardashian children, for whom cameras are a consistent presence, this gift of a handwritten letter likely offers a much more personal connection between parent and child.
Speaking of parents, the report does not mention whether or not father Kanye West writes similar letters to his kids every year. But considering the ride he's been on recently, it would probably be less "letters" and more "manifestos."
Michael Natale is the news editor for Best Products, covering a wide range of topics like gifting, lifestyle, pop culture, and more. He has covered pop culture and commerce professionally for over a decade. His past journalistic writing can be found on sites such as Yahoo! and Comic Book Resources, his podcast appearances can be found wherever you get your podcasts, and his fiction can’t be found anywhere, because it’s not particularly good.
