Push Presents: Yes or No?

New mum Serena Williams caused something of a stir on social media this week when she took to Instagram to share a snap of her with her beautiful baby daughter – and kicked off a debate about push presents in the process.

Metro reports:

She captioned the picture: ‘Ladies is a “push present” a thing? If so what did you get if anything? #conversationstarter.’

A push present, as the paper helpfully explains, is a gift "given to a woman shortly after she has given birth, typically by her spouse or partner" – apparently, it's "basically a ‘thanks for pushing our baby out’ peace offering".

The comments beneath Serena's post were predictably divided, with one commenter writing: 'I got a perfectly healthy son' while another wrote 'Yes, it is a thing nowadays and you get diamonds!'

This probably won't make me popular but I'm not a fan of the push present, speaking personally. I've had three babies and I didn't get (never mind ask for) a push present for any of them – to me, it would have felt crass to do so.

I didn't need an incentive, other than my baby, for giving birth and I didn't feel like I needed a reward or any sort of peace offering after my baby's delivery. Having a baby is just not an 'event' that I felt needed to be marked with something that could be bought and paid for.

And why should mums be the only ones to get push presents? By the same token, aren't dads deserving of gifts in recognition for the part they play in the whole procreation process?!

That said, I'm totally cool with people who are fans of push presents. It's not right for me but that doesn't mean I won't dig your diamonds if that's how you opted to mark the occasion of your baby's birth – I'll compliment you on your bling like the best of 'em.

But, to answer Serena's question, I'm going to go with 'Yes, push presents are a thing, but don't feel pressured into going down that route if it's not your thing.' It ain't mine.

We'd love to hear your thoughts on this story. How do you feel about push presents? Were you the lucky recipient of a push present after delivering your baby? If so, what did you get, and how much say did you have in what the gift was? Leave us a comment here or come and join the conversation over on our Facebook page.

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