Using the “Wish List” technique
My 9-year-old daughter’s list of needs seems to be getting longer than mine. And most of the time the items on the list seem completely unnecessary to me. One day Mahira (my daughter) and I went to the market because I needed to buy some summer clothes as the summer season was setting in. It was such a harrowing experience for me that I came back without buying a single thing-Mahira wanted to buy everything in every shop window for herself. She was convinced that she desperately needed all those things and tried to convince me likewise. I kept telling her that she did not need to buy it and she had enough stuff but to no avail.
So I tried the wish list technique. I told Mahira to make a wish list of all the things she wanted. And told her that she could start saving up money from her allowance for these purchases. I even offered to pitch in with half the money if she came up with the other half. It worked! Her list was shortened and she stopped bothering me on our shopping expeditions. She realized that she could buy something only if she came up with one-half of the money.
That taught Mahira the value of money and that she couldn’t have everything she wanted until she made some effort on her part by saving money for it.
