Teaching Children About Giving Money To Charity!

I have been thinking lately a lot about Charity. It seems like people are more and more selfish with their time, money, skills, and love. Everything seems to be more and more about ME and what I can get for Me. It makes you so down, until you notice the kind people, who are quietly going about doing good for others. Take time to notice these people, watch them, learn from them, and then become them. That is what I want for my family. My parents are these kind people. They always were helping others in one way or the other. But if we weren't paying attention, we would have never known. They quietly did things, and made a difference in many people's lives. My Mom has been sick this year, but she still finds time to make a difference- especially to my little family. My Dad had Charity in him, until the day he died of Cancer 7 years ago. He was an amazing man. I never saw him be lazy, and I totally took for granted all the things he did for me, my family, my neighbors, my church, my community, etc. The last thing I remember that was on his mind before he died, was my mother, who just found out she had Cancer for the third time. So anyway, I figure if I can always be like them, I will turn out to be a pretty good person, and if my kids learn it from me, they will be pretty good people, and it will just keep going. So now I am going to talk about how we teach our children to give...... Money.

Yesterday I spent some time walking around my neighborhood with the Wolf Scouts. They are so cute and are little 8 year olds. We were doing Pennies By The Inch. I tried the whole time to get it through their heads that because we were collecting money, it would go to kids that needed help at our local hospital. Midway I asked one of the boys, do you feel good about all the money you are collecting? He replied, "Not Really". Which I think they all felt good, but for show he needed to be cooler than that.

I wished that I had known in advance (which I should because they do this every year) that it was going on this week. I would have had my kids at home earn some money, so they could donate and feel good about it.

In our local church (stake) meeting a couple of years ago, a man talked about the need for kids to earn money. So they could learn to budget, save, etc. He also mentioned the need to let them give their money to charity. It really made me think. I had always been taught that time and service were just as important as money. But after listening to this man, I realized that if they don't learn how to give with money as well, when they are adults they won't do it.

My cute daughter last year wanted to help with a sub for Santa. She got out 50 dollars to give. This also was an important lesson I needed to teach my daughter. Give what you can afford to lose. As much as I thought it was an amazing gift, I knew that 10 dollars was more appropriate for her age, and that she needs her money for her future, when she goes to college. We talked about it, and I helped her realize that someday, she could give more, but at age 11, this was very very generous.

This year one of our extended families is doing a Sub for Santa. We are pooling the money we would have spent, and then one family is going to buy everything the family in need needs, and take it to them. So I got the idea of paying my kids in coins to do random jobs around the house, and they could earn money to help this family. So far so good. Everyone is really excited to get our jar full. Everyone has a great attitude, when they know the job is going to have money for the jar. I think it will help us to stay grounded and happy this season.

I encourage you to find ways to teach your children as well the value of money and giving it to others when you can. And if you can't, there is always next year. And who knows, you might be the receiver this year and that is sometimes hard as well to accept. But you can teach your children about generous people and how they gave to you.

Don't get me wrong, I still realize that Charity of Time, Love, and Service is important as well, but this post is not about that.