Helping your kids to want less and be more grateful this Christmas!

As parents we naturally want to give our children the best and we want them to have more. But studies have repeatedly shown, money doesn’t bring happiness and neither does the accumulation of more ‘stuff’. In fact having too much, which often happens at Christmas can have more stress than it’s worth. (not to mention the stress on poor Mum who has to tidy up all this stuff throughout the year!

So here are a few tips to help your children to want less this Christmas and be grateful for what they do get….

      1. Talk to them about items they desire, will it truly make them happy? Will they get sick of it quickly?   

     

       2. Remind them that cheap toys often break easily, they tire of playing with them quickly and then end up in landfill. Let older children know that Australia is the second biggest producer of landfill in the world!    

         

      3. Suggest to you child that they donate one toy to charity for each toy they receive. (A good way to clear the clutter and encourages them to think of others less fortunate) 

     

      4.Role play with children an appropriate response to receiving a gift before the big day. Talk to them about how the giver has invested time into choosing a present especially for them. (I’m sure we have all experienced a child who turns up their nose at an unwanted present!)

    5.  Encourage children to write a gratitude list after Christmas (or chat with younger ones), listing everything that happened at Christmas or even throughout the year that they are thankful for.

  

      6. And finally when your family does receive an abundance of toys at Christmas (especially if they have a birthday close to the day) do a toy rotation roster. Divide toys into 4 lots and rotate on a fortnightly or monthly basis. With babies and younger kid’s you can do it immediately because they have no idea what they received but with older kids you will have to wait a little while until they tire of their new toys.  This causes them to play with play with the toys that are out as they seem ‘new’ every rotation and are not just strewn everywhere around the room and barely touched.

      If you would like to read more on toy rotation click here   

Merry Christmas. xx