How to Teach Kids to Let Go of Stuff?

[PennySludt]

I was wondering this morning about how you can teach children something that feels so contradictory to me. The problem I'm trying to figure out is how do you teach children that 'things' aren't important and you shouldn't get attached to them, but at the same time teach them to respect their things? I find it hard to explain something I don't understand.

How do you explain that something should matter, but at the same time, not?

[Oniya]

Are we talking about things like loveys or things like iPods?  Respect for a pricey piece of electronics comes from the reality that if it gets broken, it may not be possible to afford a replacement.

[PennySludt]

Anything! We have five thousand stuffed animals, Barbies, dolls, baby books, movies they don't watch, even clothes they won't let go of!

[Oniya]

I remember reading a story in Highlights ages ago, about a boy who got a pair of mittens for Christmas.  After a while, the mittens were too small, but he didn't want to give them up.  Eventually, his parents were at one of those Christmas Giving Trees, explaining what it was for, and the boy realized that his too-small mittens weren't keeping his hands warm (because he couldn't get them on), but that they would help keep someone with smaller hands warm.  The story ended with him carefully hanging the mittens on the tree.