A Blissdom buddy of mine, We Are THAT Family, does an amazing job instilling generosity into her kids' lives. So, I asked her to share. . .
I have 614 plastic Easter eggs sitting in my living room. Candy and tiny trinkets sit nearby. My kids keep peeking in the top of the box.
They are very excited about our upcoming egg-stuffing party!
I'm excited about the leftover jelly beans.
Every month we sit down as a family and plan a day of giving (One Day to Give started here).
This month we are preparing hundreds of eggs for our Russian friends from The Persecuted Church. They are doing a local outreach to the large population of Russian-speaking Texans. (Explaining Easter egg hunts to Russians is very fun, by the way.)
We decided to forego our YMCA membership nearly a year ago to free up some money for moments of generosity, just like this.
Last month we stuffed a basket full of goodies for a new Mom who was alone at the hospital with her sick baby. The month before, we fed homeless people chicken biscuits. It's not just about giving monetarily, our one day of giving is about showing others generosity, like raking our neighbor's yard or writing encouraging notes and hiding them in public places.
I want to raise kids who love giving, who consider others before themselves, who give freely and abundantly, who are noble and gracious. Here's what I've learned about raising generous kids:
Lead by example
As a Mom, I am constantly teaching my kids, even when I forget, they are watching and learning from me. I can hardly expect generous children when I am stingy with my tip at a restaurant or greedy with my compliments. My kids notice when I pick up trash from my neighbor's yard and take a pie to someone in need. If I want them to be generous, I have to lead them.
Look for giving opportunities
Generosity is more than just giving money. It's a generosity of spirit, a largeness bigger than one person. My kids don't really understand the value of money yet, so teaching them about giving must be taught thru actions. We choose one day a month and agree upon an action. If you open your heart to the idea of giving, there are needs all around you. My kids look forward to this day!
Let God lead you
God is so generous, He gave His Son. He is an extravagant giver and wants us to be the same. In these difficult economic times, I think it's even more crucial we show our kids that we have faith in God. He will provide. Since we started habitually and methodically giving, every need and many wants have been met. I contribute this entirely to God's principal that you can't out-give God. Go ahead, put Him to the test. You will love the results!
15 comments:
Very inspiring. Have signed up to follow, and may even get my own family involved!
I hope to hear soon about your family's giving adventures! Thanks for reading.
I am always looking to instill this in my children. I have started by helping them to not take possession over their things. It's a good start to the process. I taught them to say things are not "mine" but "the". I said the only things that belong to them is their feelings, their body, their thoughts. But the inanimate things like a toy or bike, it's not "my" bike, it's "the" bike. The bike I am riding. So since they remove the possession, they no longer feel territorial over the item. And as psychological as that sounds it's really helping. sharing is not an issue, and now I think we're ready for the giving part of the full lesson. Last year we gave scratch-offs to the mail man, the lady at McD's, and anyone we came in contact with that needed a smile. My kids liked making strangers smile (only when mommy's around though).
Very cool. Love the egg stuffing idea because it is something that little fingers can actually do!
Great post! I agree that it's so important to instill generosity in our kids. One way we've helped our boys understand generosity is by taking them to feed the homeless as a family each week.
I love this! Such an awesome way to teach your children. I need to start something like this. Thanks for the reminder!
God bless,
Amanda
Thanks for all the creative feedback! It's so encouraging to hear how each of you is applying giving in your home. What wonderful ideas to apply with your kiddos.
I LOVE the idea of NOT owning possessions. This will be a great challenge for any adult, including myself.
Love these ideas! Here's a little thing we do:
We use these divided piggy banks that have sections for save, spend, donate and invest (which we changed to church). When the kids get their allowance (equal to half their age, so my 6 y.o. gets $3), it gets divided amongst the sections, where approximately 10% goes in donate, 10% in church, and 40% each in save and spend.
We started sponsoring a Compassion child in December whose birthday is identical to my oldest son's, so every month, they give us some money from their "donate" section to help us pay for that - and they know what that money does to help this little boy.
They also use that money to do things like help buy supplies for other kids at the start of the school year, when schools in neighboring areas have to do collections to get school supplies for their students. Having them use their money, even if they can only buy a couple of small things, really makes a difference.
Sorry this is so long...but I'm passionate about trying to instill generosity (and responsibility!) into my kiddos!
Glad to find your blog!
We try to make giving our lifestyle. We include our children when we give and when we are preparing something to give. We talk about it with them always. They are PK's so they are used to keeping things confidential so they can always be involved in our giving.
We often buy Bibles for people that we know need one, we make extra dinner and once a month or so give to a single mom on welfare from our church. When we see a person begging for food by the stores we go and buy them a hot meal and sometimes a few bags of groceries. When we do that, we have the kids pick out stuff for the bags.
Also, whenever our church does an outreach, we include our kids. They are able to help and it is a great time when they can feel like little missionaries. We try to make missions our lifestyle not a "trip".
Giving helps a sad heart. When I am feeling down, I try to think of someone that I can help. I really is better to give!
This isn't how we've always been. This is something that we have grown and matured into over the years.
Thank you for this blog!
This is awesome! Last year during lent, we had Random Acts of Kindness Fridays. It was cool...I think we need to do more of that.
Thanks for the reminder.
Awesome post.....very inspiring!
I try to teach my children about the importance of taking care of those in need.....I love what you have done!
Peace~
*~Michelle~*
What a wonderful gift you are giving your children by teaching them generosity. I have had it in my heart that I need to do more with my children but haven't done much beyond thinking about it. You have inspired me to make a plan and do it! Thank you!
I got lead over here, via THAT mom. And I am so glad I found this site! I've been wanting to incorporate Random Acts of Kindness with my children, and I'm hoping to find lots of ideas here.
I love this idea... One day to give. How powerful.
Glad I popped over to check out your guest post! How generous you and your family are...
Thanks for all of the wonderful ideas and comments. Keep 'em coming!
Here's The Diehl - Thanks for the great idea! I've heard of this famous porker before, but here is a link for the rest of us to purchase one for your kiddos since I've heard it's hard to find in-store - http://money.families.com/blog/money-savvy-piggy-bank. It won the Parents' Choice Gold Award.
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