Keeping Your Child"s Wish List Reasonable
If your child hasn't already started their wish list for the holidays, it's soon to start.
Those lists will be a mile long and include every new toy under the sun plus a puppy or pony too probably.
When my daughter would do this I usually just let her write whatever she wanted and told her that we would let Santa decide what she got.
This approach didn't work so well.
Come Christmas morning she was usually a little upset because most of the things on her list were not under the tree and she questioned whether Santa thought she was naughty or nice.
In her mind, if she was nice then why didn't Santa get her everything or most things that were on her list? I decided I needed a new approach that would make Christmas morning happier for all and teach my daughter not to be greedy at Christmas.
I thought about what I wanted to teach my daughter.
The first two items were 1.
not to be greedy and 2.
to think of others.
Now I just had to convince her that my approach was better than what the TV ads were telling her.
First I limited how much TV she watched at the holiday time.
This limited her exposure from the bombardment of toy ads.
Next, I talked to her every chance I got about how Christmas is about thinking of others and being grateful.
I challenged her to make a list of the things she would want for others.
She new that one of her friends really wanted a certain stuffed animal for Christmas so she put that on her list.
She asked me if we were going to buy her that animal for a gift and I said that we wouldn't but that we would hope that she got what she wanted and that we would be happy for her if she did receive it for Christmas.
This list helped her start thinking about others and what others needed or wanted before thinking about herself.
It didn't matter if the things she wrote down were gifts that we would be able to get the people it just got her thinking.
Since, wasting money and frivolous spending is always a major topic in our home my next series on conversations centered around the gifts that she wanted and whether or not they would be something that she could really use for a long time or if she thought they would be a waste of money.
I pushed her to think of alternatives that would be more useful.
I gave her other ideas that she had not thought of.
For example, I asked her if maybe she would like an indoor garden and some seeds so that she could watch them grow over the winter and then we could plant them in the garden in the spring and she would be able to eat her own vegetables.
She loved the idea.
Children actually do love ideas like that of the garden.
It's just that they are shown so many ads about toys that they get sort of brainwashed.
They can be very happy with fewer gifts and better gifts at the holidays then tons of toys that just end up stuffed in a corner and forgotten about within a month.
This will not only save you money but will teach your child some life long lessons that they will hold onto for life and perhaps teach their own children.
Those lists will be a mile long and include every new toy under the sun plus a puppy or pony too probably.
When my daughter would do this I usually just let her write whatever she wanted and told her that we would let Santa decide what she got.
This approach didn't work so well.
Come Christmas morning she was usually a little upset because most of the things on her list were not under the tree and she questioned whether Santa thought she was naughty or nice.
In her mind, if she was nice then why didn't Santa get her everything or most things that were on her list? I decided I needed a new approach that would make Christmas morning happier for all and teach my daughter not to be greedy at Christmas.
I thought about what I wanted to teach my daughter.
The first two items were 1.
not to be greedy and 2.
to think of others.
Now I just had to convince her that my approach was better than what the TV ads were telling her.
First I limited how much TV she watched at the holiday time.
This limited her exposure from the bombardment of toy ads.
Next, I talked to her every chance I got about how Christmas is about thinking of others and being grateful.
I challenged her to make a list of the things she would want for others.
She new that one of her friends really wanted a certain stuffed animal for Christmas so she put that on her list.
She asked me if we were going to buy her that animal for a gift and I said that we wouldn't but that we would hope that she got what she wanted and that we would be happy for her if she did receive it for Christmas.
This list helped her start thinking about others and what others needed or wanted before thinking about herself.
It didn't matter if the things she wrote down were gifts that we would be able to get the people it just got her thinking.
Since, wasting money and frivolous spending is always a major topic in our home my next series on conversations centered around the gifts that she wanted and whether or not they would be something that she could really use for a long time or if she thought they would be a waste of money.
I pushed her to think of alternatives that would be more useful.
I gave her other ideas that she had not thought of.
For example, I asked her if maybe she would like an indoor garden and some seeds so that she could watch them grow over the winter and then we could plant them in the garden in the spring and she would be able to eat her own vegetables.
She loved the idea.
Children actually do love ideas like that of the garden.
It's just that they are shown so many ads about toys that they get sort of brainwashed.
They can be very happy with fewer gifts and better gifts at the holidays then tons of toys that just end up stuffed in a corner and forgotten about within a month.
This will not only save you money but will teach your child some life long lessons that they will hold onto for life and perhaps teach their own children.