Here are some suggestions I've heard from parents that would open a new door instead of feeding an appetite for more mindless entertainment or cool clothes. One might be an answer for that child/teen on your list who is already too far into computer games, music channels, and bad movies for his or her own good.

Throwing disks such as Frisbees come in all sizes and shapes. They're good for the backyard and can lead to a healthy lifelong activity. Your area might even have organized events for this sport such as Frisbee golf.

Visit your local outdoor activities store and look for hiking, camping, biking, or boating accessories. Better yet, give the gift of an all-day canoe or fishing trip.

On the expensive side, what about a year's membership in a gym?

Your local bookstore will have a selection of audiobooks that would interrupt the steady diet of music. For example, David McCullough's John Adams, Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air or Joseph Ellis's Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation all provide hours of great listening for car or home.

While you're looking, check out the regular gift books such as Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul and others of that series or an account of local history. Include a trip to a local historical site as an extra.

Pictorial histories of industry, military, trains, cars, or national parks are always an attractive gift for a teenager usually immersed in sit com's and dot com's.

A year's subscription to Living Planet, Discover Magazine, Astronomy, or other adventure or hobby magazine is a good choice. Or a share or two of stock to follow in the paper can provide some education about how the financial world works. A chess set and the promise of time to teach the game would be a gift that lasts beyond Christmas week. These gifts can present a child with a new notion that says it's OK to be interested in things that others ignore. You don't always have to follow the crowd to the mall. Through Heifer Project International (www.heifer.org) you could give, in your child's name, a dairy goat, cow, or chickens to help a poor family in an underdeveloped country. This year-long gift will be a blessing to them and a true "feel good" gift at home.

I still favor my Aunt Emily's habit of giving "services." Short on cash, her card to me when I was a Chicago teenager included a note, "Good for one day-trip to the Museum of Science and Industry." I still remember our lunch together at the museum, but I don't remember the details of any other gift that year. Time is a most irreplaceable gift. In the long run it is the most appreciated kind of giving for growing.

If a service gift sounds too corny for your child, grandchild, nephew or niece, add it to a card on your regular gift or carry out a secret promise to give time for nurturing a child's growth next year.