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What children want for Christmas
Updated: 12/14/19 10:53 AM
Dolls, roller skates, crayons: traditional gifts are still high on many children’s wish lists. Often, the little ones also want things at Christmas that cannot be bought with money.
Cologne (dpa) – Vincent wants a scooter from the Christ child and has thought up a poem for it. Five-year-old Lina would like to "a doll that you can comb". Little Noah stuck a picture of a knight’s castle.
Thousands of wish lists are arriving at the Christmas postal branches these days. Volunteers answer each of the often lovingly designed letters. "For many children, classics are still high on the wish list", says Britta Töllner, spokeswoman for Deutsche Post for the Christkind branch in Engelskirchen near Cologne.
Lego, Playmobil and dolls have been perennial favorites for years. This time roller skates, magic boxes and children’s cameras are also in great demand. Seven-year-old Lonis wishes "for crafting red, silver and gold pens" and eight-year-old Julian "three money boxes, where you can enter a seven-digit code".
The Christkind in Himmelstadt, Lower Franconia, too, mostly receives down-to-earth wishes, says post office manager Rosemarie Schotte, and cites a few examples: wooden fruit for the shop, a flute, a school bag, a carving knife or a popcorn machine – "but with corn, otherwise it’s of no use".
The weeks before Christmas are traditionally the most important time of the year for toy sellers. With the Christmas business they achieve a good 40 percent of their annual result. According to the trade association for toys, in addition to classics such as dolls and ball tracks, there will also be many interactive toys under the Christmas tree – such as cuddly toys that can speak and move, or app-controlled toy cars.
According to a survey by the management consultancy Deloitte, more than one in three adults plans to give books to children for Christmas, and a third of those surveyed want to make them happy with games. When it comes to gifts for young people, adults apparently have less concrete ideas: Most respondents want to give away money (39 percent), followed by vouchers (30 percent).
In the letters to the Christ Child, the young senders not only express material desires. "At least half of the children also want things that cannot be bought – for example, more time with dad, a nice day with friends, or that grandma will get better", says post spokeswoman Töllner. Global desires like "peace on earth" and "that nobody has to go hungry" are also often there. Many boys and girls also deal with climate protection – for example "that the plastic waste disappears from the seas".
According to Christkind employees, intangible requests in letters have increased over the past five years. "Maybe it will be more important for the children that everything is and remains beautiful", Töllner suspects.
The psychologist Birgit Langebartels from the Cologne Rheingold Institute also sees such desires as a longing for security in everyday life. Given the breakdown of family structures and social upheavals, many children – as well as adults – feel disoriented. With the "huge" Desire for peace or the saving of the climate combine for children the hope that also in "small" everything will be fine in your own environment.
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