child is asking for too much off santa

jeni

my six year old picked what she wants off santy from smyths catalogue, she picked two grand worth of stuff, I tried to explain to her that it's too much money and she said it's OK cause santy makes the toys, i then said but he can only carry so much, she seemed ok with this, but thing is she has no concept of money, anyone any tips of how I can teach her about it

GalwayGirl26

Why don't you play a game of shops, and get her to write prices on the items, then draw up play money but make sure her money doesn't cover some if the items? Then explain the situation to her, showing some if the items she can buy?

CarrickMcJoe

Surely if you get some of the toys, she will forget about the rest with the excitement of the day. She's hardly going to be ticking off from a list.

2xj3hplqgsbkym

You can only ask Santa for 2 things and a surprise. That is the rule.

Big Bag of Chips

Yep - The understanding in our house is if you ask for too much Santa thinks you are greedy and mightn't bring anything. But if you only ask for 2 maybe 3 things he'll know you are a nice child and might even bring an extra surprise then! Of course a child is going to pick this, this, this and everything else out of the Smyths catalogue!! But it's up to you to steer her in the right direction.

Also start getting her to pay for things in the shop and get change etc. Milk, bar, bread etc.

At 6 she shouldn't really YET have much of a concept of money - because at 6 she wouldn't really have too much access to money, and anything she needs is bought for her. You could even start by giving her a Euro or 2 pocket money on a Friday, and let her see what she can (or can't!) buy for her money!

The Corinthian

Santa will bring all of the toys, but the government needs to take most of them in 'toy taxes' to pay for the banks.

Might as well get her used to the idea early, as that's what she'll be doing for her adult life...

Gatling

The Corinthian wrote: »

Might as well get her used to the idea early, as that's what she'll be doing for her adult life...

The grinch who stole Christmas

spurious

Santy brings more things to children who have to drink dirty water because there is no tap in their village; to children who are living where there is lots of fighting; to children who have nowhere to live, to children who are very sick; etc..

Santy makes the toys, but only has enough time to make a certain amount of toys for the whole world, now really, all those other children need more toys than you do, don't they?

indigo twist

You could explain to her that it would be greedy to ask for too much, as it would take Santa a long time to make all of those toys for her and he wouldn't have time to make presents for all of the other children in the world. Maybe you could suggest that she makes a list of all the things she wants, and ask Santa to surprise her with any one thing from the list?

As regards teaching her about money, I think pocket money would be a very good idea, if she doesn't get it already. Even €1/€2 a week, and be strict about not buying her many treats etc outside of this. If she wants something, she saves for it. If she spends it on sweets as soon as she gets it, and then asks for something later on in the week, point out to her that she gets pocket money and should put it aside for the things she wants. Set little targets for her - like, "if you save all of your pocket money for X number of weeks, you could use it for a trip to the cinema/the zoo/etc. (If necessary you could just pick an arbitrary amount for her to save if the actual price would be unrealistic for her to save, e.g. if she's only getting a euro a week, it would take her far too long to save for some treats, but you could tell her you can go as soon as she saves €4.)

firestarter51

get rid of the catalogue, worst things to have in the house for young and old, with most shops having websites there is no need for them

RubyGirl

Eve Handsome Peroxide wrote: »

You can only ask Santa for 2 things and a surprise. That is the rule.

Rule in our house aswell, and as previously said once christmas morning comes she will have forgotten about the list. Just keep an ear as to what she really want's. I would'nt even spend €150 on my 6year old let alone €2,000.

freshpopcorn

You can tell her that Santa also has to buy some of the toys because the elves can't make everything.
Tell her that Santa doesn't come to greedy children because being greedy is not nice.
You could get friends/family members to tell her that some of the toys she wants are rubbish/bad.

LynnGrace

Just set up the rule now and stick with it, that Santa brings one big and one small toy, or whatever you decide on. Steer her towards what is the thing she would get most play and enjoyment from. Remind her that Santa has to go to kids all over the world, and he wouldn't be happy with anyone asking for too much.

hoodwinked

my 5 year old is trying to do the same, but then we did the same as children, every ad on tv was "i want that from santa" every page in the catalogs had something circled.

i think as with most children though you know yourself a) what they really really want and b) what you can afford,

this is going to be a tight christmas for us financially so we are preparing for it now buying small bits and pieces (we always buy books so as they are on offer we are picking them up)

as for our child we have told her 1 big thing and 2 small things, so far her "big" thing is a cuddly dolphin soft toy, and her two "Small" things are an elsa dress (which she has been asking for since January and we couldn't get before her birthday in July - have one now luckily) and an elsa wand.

even though the elsa dress is more expensive she considers it small compared to the giant dolphin but it works as we can afford them and she's accepted santa can't buy her everything

cruizer101

spurious wrote: »

Santy brings more things to children who have to drink dirty water because there is no tap in their village; to children who are living where there is lots of fighting; to children who have nowhere to live, to children who are very sick; etc..

Not sure if I would go with this as kids can often see how better off kids end up getting more toys from santa so that might confuse them.

Agree with can only make so many for around the world.

I read in another thread a few years ago that someone suggested saying that if well off parents could give money to santa to get extra presents from him. I think thats the hardest thing about explaining santa, why did other kids get more, especially when its the spoilt little unbehaved gits.

On 2 other notes, what the hell is a kid doing thinkin about santy at this time of year, when I was a kid we startin being asked in December what we wanted. Its that far away I would ignore a kids request at this stage distract them with talk of halloween.

That said for those who like to prepare early Argos 3 for 2 on toys ends tomorrow

hoodwinked

cruizer101 wrote: »

On 2 other notes, what the hell is a kid doing thinkin about santy at this time of year, when I was a kid we startin being asked in December what we wanted. Its that far away I would ignore a kids request at this stage distract them with talk of halloween.

Smyth's started sending out their winter catalog and their winter ads (complete with Frozen Toys) are all over the tv,

also as her birthday and christmas are the only times she gets "big" toys she tends to countdown to one as soon as the other ends.

userofnames123

Lump of coal = sorted. That'll learn them!! Very anti-consumerism our household was. I remember one year dad got me this tacky Argos disco light as Santa present and that was it. Gas enough I saw it in the catalogue later whilst flicking through it during Christmas dinner, it was a grand total of 15 euro.

Big Bag of Chips

cruizer101 wrote: »

... what the hell is a kid doing thinkin about santy at this time of year....

Christmas Eve last year one of mine started ordering for THIS Christmas!!

sh1tstirrer

jeni wrote: »

my six year old picked what she wants off santy from smyths catalogue, she picked two grand worth of stuff, I tried to explain to her that it's too much money and she said it's OK cause santy makes the toys, i then said but he can only carry so much, she seemed ok with this, but thing is she has no concept of money, anyone any tips of how I can teach her about it

Oh dear how did she get her hands on a smyths catalouge? You have a budding diva there time to let her know who's boss.

sh1tstirrer

userofnames123 wrote: »

Lump of coal = sorted. That'll learn them!! Very anti-consumerism our household was. I remember one year dad got me this tacky Argos disco light as Santa present and that was it. Gas enough I saw it in the catalogue later whilst flicking through it during Christmas dinner, it was a grand total of 15 euro.

What a spoilt little fecker you were

pwurple

Burn the blasted smyths catalogue for a start.

Rule in our house is one santa pressie, and a surprise.

2k of stuff is bananas.

Sure they get snowed under with all sorts of things from aunties and uncles and cousins and grandparents as well. Take that list, and let some of those people know a couple of things on it.

jeni

most years I spend 150 max on the kids, I hate seeing people spending thousands every year, thanks for tips xx

Moonbeam

SHe is only 6.
My kids are allowed to ask for what they want but will not get it all:)
They don't tend to ask for much though so I am lucky.
Set a limit 100 euro or what ever you can comfortably afford and pick out th emost wanted presents.

Pablodreamsofnew

Just tell her that Santa has to give toys to every kid in the whole wide world and that each kid gets a limit of 2 toys

Kids will circle everything in Smyths book of they will say to every Ad on tv 'that one' 'want that' (My son does), it doesn't mean you get them everything. Just say 'we'll see' anyway your kid will be so excited at Christmas they won't notice


We never celebrated Christmas growing up or Birthdays!! As my folks were JWs.
I didn't even get a lump of coal poor me

sh1tstirrer

MrsYelnekoff wrote: »

Just tell her that Santa has to give toys to every kid in the whole wide world and that each kid gets a limit of 2 toys

Kids will circle everything in Smyths book of they will say to every Ad on tv 'that one' 'want that' (My son does), it doesn't mean you get them everything. Just say 'we'll see' anyway your kid will be so excited at Christmas they won't notice


We never celebrated Christmas growing up or Birthdays!! As my folks were JWs.
I didn't even get a lump of coal poor me

Since when did santa deliver toys to young goats

Moonbeam

On topic please

deisemum

I loved getting the Smyths catalogues and they could spend some time looking through them. I told them they could make a list for Santa but it would be Santa that would decide what they'd get and that they wouldn't get everything on the list. The list kept changing anyway but I knew what they'd like the most.

We didn't go mad on loads of stuff but as they got older the presents ended up much smaller in size but more expensive. I'd bulk out their presents with the usual, socks, underwear, pyjamas, toiletries, books etc. They were always very happy with what they got.

Boober Fraggle

We cut out toys we want from the catalogue here. Then stick them on a page for our Santa letter. There's only so much will fit on the page, so they have to make decisions before they glue them.

Other things on the list might give ideas to grandparents/godparents etc.

Buona Fortuna

RubyGirl wrote: »

Rule in our house aswell, and as previously said once christmas morning comes she will have forgotten about the list. Just keep an ear as to what she really want's. I would'nt even spend €150 on my 6year old let alone €2,000.

Especially as they might well find the box the toy came in, as fun/interesting/exciting as the €150+ toy itself

lynski

We have to pay Santa. My parents had to pay Santa so we only ever got what we could afford. We also tell the kids he only brings toys that their parents allow. He always brings books and smaller toy and the big one is from us.
Stockings Santa fills with little treats often the most popular presents, and often collected from charity shops in the months before.

ezra_pound

cruizer101 wrote: »

Not sure if I would go with this as kids can often see how better off kids end up getting more toys from santa so that might confuse them.

Agree with can only make so many for around the world.

I read in another thread a few years ago that someone suggested saying that if well off parents could give money to santa to get extra presents from him. I think thats the hardest thing about explaining santa, why did other kids get more, especially when its the spoilt little unbehaved gits.

On 2 other notes, what the hell is a kid doing thinkin about santy at this time of year, when I was a kid we startin being asked in December what we wanted. Its that far away I would ignore a kids request at this stage distract them with talk of halloween.

That said for those who like to prepare early Argos 3 for 2 on toys ends tomorrow

From my own personal experience the people who go absolutely bonkers spending huge amounts of money getting presents for Christmas are not very well off... At all.

I agree that this is remarkably early to be thinking about Xmas. We typically only watch Netflix so our kids are kept relatively safe from advertising most of the time. TV advertising is evil alright.