Lately, my 5 year old daughter keeps focusing on things she doesn't have (some game that her friend has or some doll that she saw on a commercial that she "needs") and although she has plenty of dolls and toys, she doesn't seem to have any appreciation for them.
Recently, we took her to a show and out to get ice cream and had a very nice day. At the end of the show, she wanted to get a doll from the show and we told her no (because it was quite expensive) and she lost it and got hysterical because "she really needed and wanted" that doll and liked it more than any of her existing dolls.
We try very hard to show and have her participate in charity and other activities and try to remind her that she is very lucky to have a home and food and toys, and there are many other people who aren't so lucky, but she still seems like she is missing an "appreciation gene" both in terms of being thankful for what she has and always focusing and getting hystical if she can't get something that she doesn't have.
I guess a bit of this is general human nature and general 5 year old human nature but I wanted to see if anyone had suggestion for how to improve or ways to focus on this?