Dealing with Your Child’s Christmas Wish List

FOX’s Lisa Brady talks about the best way to approach your child’s Christmas wish list this season on this week’s ‘FOX on Family’:

The holiday season can put parents under pressure, not knowing if Santa can deliver the top of the wishlist. Sometimes it’s just too expensive:

(Wittman): “Really this is the perfect time to have a discussion of values with our kids.”

Author and father of three, Andrew Whitman, says for older kids, be honest about financial priorities:

(Wittman): “And then, if it’s really something they want, come up with a plan to execute getting it. Starting with them saving their money and then figuring out ways to earn money to get it later on down the road.”

And if it’s something that you don’t want them to have yet:

(Wittman): “Just tell them straight up, ‘Hey, you’re not ready for that yet.’ But give them benchmarks to look forward to… Right? And I’m going to set up intermediary gifts until they reach that maturity level to handle it.”

Now, for younger kids, similar might be close enough:

(Wittman): “Whatever they think they’ve got to have right now, they get distracted with the newest greatest thing, if you put it in front of them, they’re going to love it.”

Wittman also says kids act how we act, by dreaming big and being grateful for whatever we have.

With FOX on Family, I’m Lisa Brady.

Andrew Wittman is the author of ‘Seven Secrets of Resilience for Parents.’ He’s also a former federal agent and founder and CEO of the Mental Toughness Training Center.