Teach your child about money. Grade-schoolers can learn about the value of possessions by paying for them themselves. Giving your child an allowance provides him with cash and you with the opportunity to teach him how to use it His cries of "Oh, I want that!" at the store can be met with, "That costs five dollars. Do you have enough of your own money to pay for it?" If you want to institute spending rules, set them up right away so he knows from the start that, for example, half of his money should go into savings and half is his to spend as he chooses.

At this age, children should also understand that some expenditures -- like groceries and rent or mortgage payments -- are necessities, while others -- like yet another Game Boy cassette -- are optional. When he whines, "But I want a new scooter!" you can respond sympathetically, "I understand that you want it," but then explain why he doesn't truly need it: "You already have a good scooter, and they're too expensive to collect." This teaches him that there are logical reasons behind purchasing decisions. It's wise to avoid bringing adult feelings of failure or resentment into the conversation.
As Paul Coleman, a family therapist and author of How to Say It to Your Kids puts it, "This is not a time to say, 'Well, I'm sorry, but we give you the best we can, and you should be satisfied with that!'"

Teach him to prioritize. If holidays or birthdays are coming up and your child is expecting lots of presents, give him some paper and ask him to make a list (or draw pictures) of the three things he most wants and then number them in order of importance. Tell your child, "Before your birthday arrives, let's clean out your closet so you've got room. We'll give away some of your old toys." If he helps you deliver a box of his toys to a charity, he'll be learning about empathy and generosity. But he may also get to thinking about how much he really wants lots of new toys if it means getting rid of old favorites.

Delay gratification. Teach your grade-schooler to think seriously about whether he really wants that new video game by making him wait for it. Have him write down or draw a picture of the item he wants and post it on the fridge along with a timeline of days -- one or two weeks, say -- until the date that he can go out and buy it with you. He can check off the days every morning. Finally getting it will be a much-anticipated treat, but if he loses interest before the time is up, even he will probably agree that he didn't really want yet another game after all.

Show an appreciation for the deeper value of things. Your child can learn that you prize objects not for how costly or trendy they are but for their inherent quality or sentimental value. "This is a good skateboard because it's so sturdy," you can point out. Or "This chair means a lot to me because it was Grandma's when she was little." Your child may not begin to adopt your reasoning right away, but over time he'll see that popularity and high price tags aren't the only factors that make objects beloved, and that quality is better than quantity.