Posted on: December 1, 2010

Needs vs. Wants

 

In these challenging economic times, it’s important to save every penny you can. It’s also imperative to teach your children the importance of what is necessary and what is not. As our children were growing up, they would often say to us, “I want that…”  We then would ask them, “Is that something you need or something you want.”  Of course, they almost always said that it was an item they absolutely needed!  We then had to explain to them the difference between needs and wants.

Needs are items or services that you must have in order to live.  Wants are items or services that you would like to have, but can live without if necessary. If it was a need, then we paid for the purchase.  If it was a want, they would have to pay for it out of their allowance.  Many times, when they knew they had to pay for it, they realized it wasn’t that important and they decided not to get it.

Now, this was just a guideline for us.  There were many times that we paid for things that they did not need, but just wanted. To help you figure it out for yourself, I’d encourage you to check out this great hands-on resource on needs vs. wants at iMOM.com.

What are some ways you have taught this important lesson to your kids?

  • Ngumeh

    I think that the hardest thing is to guide children in aspects of life that we as parents struggle with.
    THis is one classic example.

  • http://twitter.com/epicparent epicparent.tv

    great reminder! were scaling it way back this year for Christmas…more than anything to teach them simplicity.

  • http://www.FamilyMinute.com/ Mark Merrill

    Thanks Epic!

  • Mark

    A very timely post as the holiday season is upon us. The most important aspect of this is living by example. I’ve caught myself, or more embarrassingly, been caught by my daughters picking up items I know we don’t need at times when we really need to watch the bottom line. At 3, our younger daughter is starting to grasp it, but there are still a lot of things she “has to have” that we are able to put on the back burner.

    Our 6 year old is doing a pretty good job with it, mainly because we used the same method of if it isn’t a need, she has to pay for it. She now saves her money for the special things she wants and works hard to earn them.

    Our older daughter usually saves up enough money to buy something each month, a book, a new doll, something along those lines. She asked me just yesterday if she could have some more chores to make extra money. I asked her what she was saving up for, and her answer once again showed what an amazing young lady she is turning into. She replied that she wanted to buy some toys for a local shelter and the Children’s Hospital, there was nothing she wanted that was more important than giving the toys to the children that didn’t have many.

  • Jerm

    We are going thru this issue right now with our “only child” who just found out we are fostering to adopt two young boys. Her biggest fear as that she will never be able to get or do anything like she used to be able to. She is not without anything that she needs, we are good at saving money by not having all the best brands, and that value she has accepted. The biggest issue is the need to determine want from need. I will admit that I sometimes find some cool gadget and fall into the ” I want it ” trap also.

    We have been saving most of the year for Christmas to make sure that there is not a burden to payback after the holidays and to predetermine a spending limit. We committed to her that she would also have a budget to spend on gifts for friends and family and we will now do the same for the boys.

    My wife and I had determined before the boys even entered the picture that we would be “re-gifting” items previously purchased that had not gotten much use this year both as a cost saving measure and a way to show that we can do with less new stuff and spend more time enjoying and appreciating what we are blessed with. Thank the Lord for His sacrifice and His Mercy and enjoy the time that we have with family and friends. Thanks for the public reminder about what really matters, FAMILY!

  • Gary

    When I asked a missionary friend who’s boys are recycling back on to the field what was his advice for raising kids (for my book, Generational Fathering), he simply said. “They see what they do. I fill in with firm and fair discipline.” Seems that fits the “want-need” challenge. They won’t buy the want vs need lectures ’til the see its fruit in your life.

  • http://www.FamilyMinute.com/ Mark Merrill

    Gary, we must be a living example for our kids! Thanks for sharing.