Causes and Treatment of Greed

Our children’s greedy behavior is one of the most distressing and embarrassing issues for parents. They often wonder about the reason behind such behavior despite providing everything the child needs. This leads us to understand some of the causes that will help us move toward the steps of treatment.

The Causes:

• Material or Emotional Deprivation: When a child experiences deprivation, it creates a desire to acquire everything—even things they do not need—as the deprived child lacks a sense of sufficiency.
• Self-Validation: Children may believe that acquiring many material things earns them the love of others. Therefore, most children want to increase their possessions, and this motive may develop until it takes the form of greed.
• Imitating Greedy Behavior: Most children acquire the trait of greed from the environment they live in. When the people whom children consider role models are greedy, it is natural for the children to become greedy as well.

Treatment of Greed:

• Parents must communicate and talk with their children continuously.
• Parents should ensure they do not provide immediate obedience to fulfill all of their children’s requests.
• Parents must instill a spirit of cooperation and sharing in the children’s personality.
• Parents should develop a spirit of teamwork in greedy children to instill the value of sharing work and moving away from selfishness and greed.