Wants and Needs

This is a topic I am fascinated by.

What are the essentials? What is an extra?

These seem like simple answers except that people will fiercely guard their definition of each.

Take the latte. Seems like an extra, right, a want? Except when you're cooped up in the house with 2 children who run you ragged, taking 15 minutes to run to the drive thru (strap the kids in first, of course) and enjoy a nice coffee drink while you drive, well, some weeks that is a need. If I have been having a hard week at home, that one latte may be the only time I get to relax and enjoy part of a day. But then you can look at what 'hard week' means.

A hard week can be the kids throwing up ALL WEEK. Or it can be that they were mostly good and there was a meltdown at the end of the day. And don't even try to compare these two examples to one given by the mother of a disabled child.

These terms are so subjective to each individual. I was at a mom's group with a mom who said she wished she could have more children but could not afford it. During the group, talk turned to vacation and she began discussing their two yearly vacations (one to Disney World). Big families just don't do this stuff. I had to smile to myself because technically she could afford a few more children but in her mind, family vacations and outings were something her family needed. I would rather have my children have less of those experiences and more people around when they're older. But I don't know her life or her mind. Maybe she has good reasons. But technically, having those vacations are an extra. She could afford more children by tweaking her lifestyle in that and other ways but her ethos gets in the way. Same with all of us.

I'll probably come back to this topic more often. I am fascinated by how people classify these things.