Teaching Generosity and the Act of Giving to Young Kids
Given the upcoming holiday season, I would like to teach my two young boys (ages 2 and 5) the act of giving. And I prefer for it not to be so abstract, like just picking out a toy and then tossing it in a bin. Do any of you guys have ideas?
When I was young, I recall two moments in my young childhood where I was able to see how fortunate I was (without my parents telling me so). One, I travelled with my family to developing countries where I could see first hand how lives are just different in some parts of the world. Second, I remember in junior high, I, along with a few others, volunteered to bring donated toys to a family for Christmas. We were invited in, and it just brought me so much joy to see how excited the young kids were to receive our gifts.
I want these experiences for my boys. Understandably they are young. But perhaps you all may have thought of some ideas? I would love to hear them to ensure my boys grow up to appreciate what they have and feel a sense of joy helping others.
Parent Replies
They are very young .... I don't think the 2 year old can grasp this idea. But I have had the same mindset and it works slowly over years of effort. Definitely travel to developing countries if you can, and show them impoverished areas of our own country when they are older. Make poverty and homelessness just part of the family conversation at a level they can grasp. You could make some little bags of toiletries, socks, snacks, and money and hand them out to homeless people you pass on the street. My son did actually get a lot out of picking out toys, taking them direct to the fire station and donating them - this is very hard for little kids when they want the toys, and we did it every year. You can also buy pet supplies and donate them to the Humane Society. You can have them help you bake things and deliver them to older or solo people in your neighborhood. I am not religious but churches often do great projects in the winter, that kids can help with.
Thats so wonderful, I am also trying really hard to instill this value. Here are a couple of things I have tired... (started when my kids were 4)
We always donate presents when we get gifts, we pick a few we want to keep and donate the rest.
Other thing is pick a organization as a family and ask a few people who are giving gifts to make a donation to the organization instead of buying a gift.
In the past we have called organizations around the area and ask what they need and buy it together as a family and go deliver it.
What a great parenting goal! This is more at the "abstract" end, but I like to give a Tis Best gift card to my kids each year. I buy a gift card for the kids as a "gift" to them and then the kids get to pick the charity that the money goes to. so they get a say in what they're doing and get to choose who they're gonna help, but it's also all done online so it's definitely not interactive/tangible.
Consider making homemade cards and delivering them to older people in assisted living or nursing care homes. Many older people are very lonely around the holidays and delight at seeing small children. When my children were small, we baked cookies and delivered them to older people in our neighborhood. Also consider "adopting" a family for the holidays through an organization or agency and involve your children in buying the gifts and food. Some agencies allow you to deliver to the adopted family.
As my children got older, we volunteered in food pantries and soup kitchens. Please note that many organizations and agencies do not allow young volunteers. It's not developmentally appropriate for the children, and is a safety issue for the organizations.
Most importantly, volunteer and give because it is important to you, not only for your children. When it's authentically important to you, and you include them, they pick up on the meaning in time.
Have you heard about moonjars?
It became famous thanks to this book called "The Opposite of Spoiled".
It's a three-part piggy bank: Saving, Spending, Sharing.
You give the kid their allowance weekly (this is dependent on you - advice we go with is dollars in age of child), and they can put the money where they like.
Save = big items (lego kits for our kids)
Spend = things that happen regularly for them (like, say a cookie at Starbucks)
Share = build up and then donate at your favorite times of year
It's worked very well for us.