From family time to robot dogs: Children share hilarious and heartbreaking Christmas wishes

Children up and down the country have shared their biggest wishes for Christmas this year, from magic self-completing homework to more support for their struggling parents.

Youngsters gave their hilarious and heartbreaking responses when asked their biggest Christmas wish this year, with one eight-year-old girl asking for “a robot dog that can do literally anything – but doesn’t poo”. Elsewhere, a 10-year-old girl said she wanted “more money so my mum and dad weren’t struggling”.

The answers came after children’s charity Barnardo’s, with the help of YouGov, asked more than 1,000 children aged between six and 15 across the UK: “If you could make one Christmas wish, what would you wish for?”

The charity explained that among the top ten answers given by children were to spend Christmas with their family all together, for world peace, for a family holiday – with many children also asking to go to Disneyland, for their families to be happy and to see the biggest Christmas VIP of all, Santa.

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Among the funniest responses included a six-year-old in the East Midlands who wished for “a big pink unicorn that can fly and talk to me and take me to see Santa every day”, while a 14-year-old in the South West asked for “homework that would do itself as soon as it was put on the desk, as if by magic”.

A 15-year-old boy asked for “elephants to give giant hugs in the parks, for the days when we are sad”, and a “giant treehouse with slides, secret tunnels, and a hot chocolate machine inside and a pet dragon that’s super friendly and can fly me to school” was on the Christmas list of one 10-year-old girl from the North West.

Barnardo’s highlighted that among the silly and magical Christmas wishes were more heartbreaking ones; with around 4.5 million children currently living in poverty in the UK and the number of homeless children in the country at record highs, a number of children simply asked for their families not to struggle this winter.

Among the more poignant Christmas wishes were an 11-year-old boy’s wish to “spend five more minutes with my grandparents” who had died, while an eight-year-old girl said Christmas “hasn’t been the same” since family members had died, and that her wish would be to see them again.

Other children picked selfless Christmas wishes, with a 13-year-old girl wishing for “all the homeless people to have somewhere to go for Christmas”, and another 11-year-old girl asking to “save other children from poverty”.

Barnardo’s explained that the Christmas wishes “highlight the delightful, imaginative and hilarious minds of our children” as well as their selflessness in wishing for children not to have to live in poverty.

“For many children, their wish was simply to spend time with their families, feeling safe, healthy and loved this Christmas. It’s a beautiful wish – but sadly one we know is out of reach for too many,” Lynn Perry, Barnardo’s chief executive, said. “For many, this Christmas will be a time of struggling to put food on the table and keep their homes warm.”

She continued: “At Barnardo’s, we’re doing our best to keep the magic of Christmas alive for as many children as we can – but we can’t do it without the generous support from the public.

“If you’re able to spare anything this festive season, please do consider donating to Barnardo’s to help support children this winter.”

On 5 December, Labour’s child poverty strategy was finally published in order to lay out support for the millions of children living under the breadline. As part of the strategy, the two-child benefit limit was scrapped, a measure that is expected to lift 350,000 children out of poverty. In addition, the government has laid out plans to help families afford baby formula, while it has also set out measures to stop the “unlawful” placement of families in bed and breakfasts beyond the six-week limit. 

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