Needs Versus Wants

A very important money skill to learn is the difference between needs and wants. But for children that can be tricky. Put simply, a need is something you must have to survive, like food, water and a home. A want is something that’s nice to have, but you can live without, like an ice cream, or a new skateboard. The story of Larry the fish helps explain the concept. Larry’s swimming in his bowl and it’s time for lunch. Oops. His bowl gets knocked over and he falls out. But phew, he’s quickly scooped back in. So, what are Larry’s needs? He needs fish food to eat and water to swim in to survive. But what’s something Larry might want? Maybe a little castle to swim through? Now here’s a quiz to try. Call out an item and your child has to answer that it’s a need or a want. Drinking water, chocolate, bed, TV… etcetera. It’s good fun to do this at home and you could try it at the supermarket too. Vegetables are needs, and sweets are wants. Cash-clever kids know they have to take care of their needs, before they start thinking about what else they want – and they might even need to save up for it.