Teaching your children about giving is one of the most important things you can do as a parent. John and I have tried to be an example to our kids of giving to others while at the same time encouraging them to share things they have. Whether it is going through their old toys to donate or putting money in the offering plate at church, we are trying to teach them that everything they have is from God and it is our responsibility to share it. Even before we had kids, we participated in Operation Christmas Child through our church. It is an easy process where you fill a shoebox full of toys and necessities for a child that would not receive a Christmas gift otherwise. Once we had Ella, I wanted to donate a box in her honor and then when we had Audrey, we chose to donate 2 boxes for little girls from each of our girls. I took the girls this year to help me buy all the items and really talked to Ella about what we were doing and why we were doing it. Granted, she wanted to purchase them a Dora DVD, some princess bubble bath and CD player so they could listen to music :), but I think she got the idea that there are people who don't have the blessings we do. My hope is that we may we find ways to share our blessings throughout the year too.
1 comment:
This is a fun tradition...Lincoln wanted to play with the ball we bought to put in ours...hopefully they'll grasp the whole "giving and sharing" thing sooner than later.
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