Interesting money/possessions lesson my son taught me today

This morning, I had my kids go through their stuffed toys--I asked them each to choose 12, and the rest would be donated for other kids to play with (they were fine with this plan).

My 7-year-old had bought a pretty beat-up teddy bear from a garage sale with his tooth fairy money, and from an adult's perspective, it would have been the first thing I put in the give-away pile. But he chose it first, over some MUCH nicer-looking and more expensive stuffies, because he'd chosen to spend his own money on it. I didn't realize how much that would affect his perception of its value and his desire to keep it!