Teaching kids Needs vs Wants

Teaching Kids Needs vs Wants around Thanksgiving

A common Thanksgiving tradition is to go around the table and have everyone say something that they are grateful for. This is a great way to teach gratitude to not only children, but even to ourselves! Recognizing the blessings that we have in our lives can have a great impact on our mental well being and our relationships with others.

This gratitude mindset around Thanksgiving also provides a great opportunity to teach our kids about wants and needs- which can help them later in life when they need to make financial decisions. What’s the difference? Needs are things that are necessary for survival, while wants are things you would like to have but can live without. 

Here are a few fun ways you can help teach your kid about deciding when something is a want or a need:

Activity (ages 3-7)

Explain the difference between a want and a need to your child. Come up with a list of things having to do with the holidays, and ask your child to sort the items into wants and needs.

Activity (ages 5+)‍

Make a list with kids of everything needed to make Thanksgiving special (like food, family, warmth), and then discuss “wants” like extra decorations or non-essentials. If there were budgeting constraints, what would be most important to prioritize?

Activity (ages 5+)

‍Have your child come up with a list of the things they think are most important to buy each month. What things would be nice to buy if they had extra money? Are any of the important things actually wants and not needs?

Activity (ages 5+)

‍Come up with some situations from your personal life where you had to make a decision between wants and needs. Ask your child what they would have done, or what they think you should have done. Tell them about if you made the right choice or what you would have done differently

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