Lessons in Giving
Posted by Amy Trice in December 8th 2008
I’ve always been a big fan of giving. I’d rather give gifts than receive gifts. (Disclaimer: The previous statement does not exempt my husband from giving me a Christmas gift this year.) News reports about the economy and its effect on families has me a little down. Every time I look at Slick, I am grateful for what we have and what we can provide for him.
Giving back to the community and helping others is a lesson we want Slick to learn. We do not want him taking anything for granted. Although he’s young, we are trying to start the lessons early. This is first year we are talking to him about giving and trying to involve him in our activities.
Just before Thanksgiving, I assembled a bag of non-perishable foods to donate to a local food bank. We talked about how the food was going help people who are hungry and unable to buy food at the store like we do. Slick is only 2, so it was more like a one way conversation. But he was paying attention while I talked and tagged along while I dropped off the food. I’m looking forward to having more in depth conversations as he gets older.
Another one of our giving projects involved the Christmas Bazaar at church. This year I made gift jars and donated them to be sold. I am a jar-making maniac each Christmas. Since I was already making 16 soup-in-a-jar gifts to give as presents, I figured it would be a snap to assemble another 8 jars and donate them. Slick is still probably a little young to understand the concept of how the money made from the Bazaar will be used to help fund new flooring for the church. I talked to him about how people are donating crafts, food and time to help the church. Slick wanted to help the cause and asked me to buy him cookies. There’s nothing wrong with cookies at 10am when it’s for a good cause.
My husband donates his time during the United Way Day of Caring and The Martin Luther King Day of Service. My husband is looking forward to the day when Slick is able to go with him and help pitch in. Until he is old enough to tag along with Dad, we’ll have to think of some other creative ways to illustrate the point that donating time to a community project is a great way to give.
We want Slick to be thankful for everything he does have and empathic to those who may be struggling under difficult circumstances. We want him to learn every contribution makes a difference to someone. Our hope is that we are raising a child that has the ability to see the world from a another perspective. As he gets older, we will be looking for more creative ways to involve him in the process.
What are some of the lessons in giving you are teaching your children? I’d love to hear about them!
Loading ...
My kids don’t have allowances yet, but slicing the allowance in thirds is pretty common. One third goes in the bank, one third is for spending, one third is for charity. Once a half decent pool of charity money is saved, get the child involved with choosing who to give to.
Also, Scouts Canada up here teams up with the Toronto Star to deliver “Santa Boxes” to families that can’t afford Christmas presents.
It can also be fun for a family to donate time at a Habitat for Humanity project. With my kids, I’ve found that doing the same event annually starts to give meaning to the giving over time… they get it and want to help.
My girls are 3 & (almost) 2 but I try very hard to lead them by example. There is a homeless man that is often at our exit and if I don’t have cash with me I make sure to give him at lease a bottle of water or protein bar - it is small but hopefully will fill his stomach. My husband’s father had a kidney removed due to cancer last year so we have started to do the kids Relay for Life. Last year I sold some things around the house to get money to donate but this year I might have P help me make cookies, that way she will also be involved. Great post and I love doing the jars too
Thanks for the great ideas Jessie & Darryl. As far as cutting allowances into thirds? My husband would probably suggest cutting it into fourths - one fourth for savings, one fourth for spending, one fourth for charity and one fourth for replacing household items broken by Slick.