10 Ideas to Teach Your Kids {& You!} Generosity
Do you ever find yourself seeking excessive earthly treasures?
Sometimes we spend money on things we don’t need instead of giving to feed the poor or reaching out to people with the good news of Christ.
Clothes, out-on-the-town outings, or money spent on luxuries for ourselves can fill our home and heart. I’m not only talking about really expensive items or trips. It can be as simple as a pair of sandals on sale.
Even though three pairs of sandals sit in my closet that are in good condition, I can justify spending $15 on new ones. They’re cute, match my favorite blue shirt and are half price! And I sure do want to get to the store early so my size is still there.
Do I really need them? No. Do I want them? Yes. And here’s where I have to do some soul searching and re-read the Bible story of the greedy farmer from Luke 12:15. In it, we’re warned, “Then he said to them, ‘Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.'”
Am I hoarding my money for an abundance of possessions? Could I limit myself by setting a budget for splurges (like those sandals) and spend the money I save on needful things?
While there is merit in saving for a rainy day, we should also share that which God has given us, and teach our children to do the same.
Here are 10 ideas:
1. Tell stories. Hearing stories from the past help to paint a picture of the joy and the results of giving. We often tell our children of the times, when we were first married and having kids, that our money was so tight we often didn’t know how we were going to cover bills. Then, it never failed that someone left us groceries anonymously on our porch or we were sent a check in the mail from someone who said we were on their mind. Telling these stories to our kids helps them to catch a vision for being generous too.
2. Record the stories. {This makes number one easier!} During those early years we kept an “I Spy” journal–as in “I Spy The Lord Providing For Us”. When our kids were old enough to read for themselves, they could pick it up and be reminded of God’s goodness and the generosity of others.
3. Send them on a listening mission. Have them be on the lookout at church, school, in the neighborhood, etc… for who might benefit from a little cash. It never fails that they will hear that a parent lost their job or that a kids wants to go to the football camp but can’t afford it. Have them report back to you to see if there is a way your family can help.
4. Be all sneaky -like. Brainstorm with your kids ways to help others while remaining anonymous. We’ve colored pictures and mailed them along with gift cards to grocery or department stores to families in need. We’ve paid for registration for camps and seminars and then sent a note telling the families so {without telling them who!}. Being both generous and sneaky is a blast!
5. Give them money to give away. Sometimes give your kids ten dollars {or a hundred if you are able!} with the one stipulation that they must give the money away. No, not to their friend to spend on an X-box game they’ll play with them. Have them pray about who might need the money more than them. Then, let them give it to them!
6. Serve. As a family, serve at a local charity. We take our kids sometimes to a shelter for battered women. We help prepare and then serve them their evening meal. Then, while the moms are having an after-dinner Bible study, we watch their sweet kiddos. {WARNING! This one results in your kids wanting to smuggle home other sweet kids to be a part of your family. Gently remind them that the kids there are not to take home!} We’ve also served Thanksgiving meals at a homeless shelter before returning home to eat our own. And for emphasis, we made the kids skip breakfast so they were extra hungry while serving. It helped to drive home the lesson that day. They were hungry while others got to eat. That is exactly how those homeless folks feel most days! (Note: our kids have no medical conditions that make skipping a meal a concern)
7. Send them away. Do what it takes to have your kids go on a missions trip. They will never be the same! I went on my first trip in college to Mexico. I used to feel very “less than” when it came to my family’s financial status. I shopped at Kmart for the blue light specials. Many of my friends shopped at much classier places. They also drove nicer cars and had newer and bigger homes. When I spent three weeks working to build a church for a poor congregation in Mexico, I saw for the first time what “poor” actually is! I came home feeling like a queen shopping at Kmart. Our own kids have all been on trips. Our daughter on too many to mention. Our 18 year-old son just went with his dad and a group from our church with Samaritans Purse to help clean up from hurricane Sandy. Our 15-year-old son went on an inner-city missions trip with youth group to Milwaukee. (He was then one who wanted to smuggle home an adorable toddler named Ollie!)
8. Roam the streets. Take your kids on an afternoon of performing random acts of kindness for strangers. Pay for someone’s order behind you in the drive-thru line. Take some flavored iced tea in cans and hand them out to the crossing guard at the corner, a department store worker out gathering carts in the parking lot on a steamy hot day, or the road commission workers on the highway during construction (Hey–you’ll be driving super slow during that construction zone anyway. Just have your kids hand them out the window! It helps you to smile rather than get all grumpy because of the construction zone slow-down!) In the winter, buy hot cocoas from a drive thru and give them away to all of the Salvation Army bell-ringers you can find standing out in the cold.
9. Stay home and bless your servants. Think you don’t have any servants? Yes you do! How about the mail carrier, the UPS guy (or gal), the garbage collector or power-line workers out in front of your house? They serve you so you can live life. How about a plate of homemade brownies for those garbage collectors? Give your UPS worker a cold can of soda. Hang a bag of homemade granola trail mix on the mailbox with a note thanking your mail carrier for serving you all year. Be sure to get your kids in on the act. Our son Mitchell LOVED doing this when he was little. He enjoyed watching men working using their “busy machines” (the power-line workers on their cherry-pickers). He knew if he took them out treats, they’d let him sit and watch them work. (From a safe distance of course.) HINT: Keep frozen balls of homemade cookie dough in your fridge so you can whip up a fresh-baked treat at the drop of a hat.
10. Teach your kids whose money it is anyway. All our belongings belong to God. All our money does too! Teach them by example to tithe (the Bible’s practice of giving 10% of your money for the work of the Lord) and even to give beyond. It has been a joy to see our grown daughter giving money off the top of her paycheck from her salon to missionaries she supports. I spied a sticky note our 18-year old had on his desk the other day listing out what he was doing with his paychecks. It included his car payment, cash in the savings, “Fun” money and also his tithe. More is caught than taught. Don’t just tell your kids to be generous. Show them by example that all we have belongs to God. The LEAST we can do is give Him back 10%!
I’ve tried to teach my kids to bless the people that serve us. Anytime we bake cookies, we bag some up for the mail carrier or delivery guy. My daughter asked just the other day if we could bake so we could give some to the mail carrier!
I like the idea of getting my kids to go on a listening mission to see who might need help and what we can do to help. I think it ties well with the next idea of being sneaky in how we can help.
Our daughter and son-in-law took their two boys to a homeless tent camp in their city. They prayed before they went asking God to show them a family they could bless. As they walked around in the cold one family caught all of their attention. They asked them if they could take them out to dinner and then took them to a store to buy necessary items to help them stay warm (socks, hats, blankets, mittens, shoes, etc.) It was very touching when the mother asked if they could take what was left from the dinner back to their friends at the camp. Their boys saw love in action – twice! The boys were so enthusiastic and loved doing this so much they have gone back several times.
I am teaching Children’s Sunday school at our church this week and plan to try your M&M game! At home I am interested in trying the idea to have my kids look for people to help.
As my boys get older I’d like to implement your idea of giving them money to give away. I was most challenged by your ways to roam the streets and look for opportunities to give there! Thank you for the challenges!
Number 9…deal with them daily..can’t wait to share
I love the M&M activity ~ think I might do that this Wednesday night. I LOVE the I spy journal! I can’t wait to get started and see what all we have to place on the pages!
Love these ideas. At Christmas, we designate an amount to give away. Then, we tell our three kids to submit suggestions. As a family, we then discuss and decide how to distribute the money.
Love the M&M activity and bible lesson! Can’t wait to do it with my boys and I really appreciate all he other great ideas for sharing! My son finds such joy in giving drinks to the garbage men every week. My husband did it one day without even thinking of the example he was providing for our 2 year old. The following week upon hearing the trash truck nearing our house my son Instantly stopped playing and exclaimed, “Trash truck drink!!” I was touched my his thoughtfulness.
All wonderful ideas!! I think my grandsons would love the idea of passing road construction workers and giving them a cold treat. Guess what! the highway that runs right in front of our house is being resurfaced. I’m kinda excited about a long delay now. Thanks Karen.
All 10 ideas were fantastic! Right now what resonates with me the most is to teach them whose money it really is. Once they get this, they will gladly do the others. I also really like the idea of handing out the hot cocoa and cold drinks. Love the M&M game and will try to use this as well.
The family celebrates Christmas eve at my home. I have each member-including 7 grandchildren -bring a gift for Jesus-a special kindness they have done in His name. They write it down and place it in a gift box for Him. Sometimes I have them bring out-grown shoes or clothes to take to a shelter. We do this before opening our own gifts to focus on the Christ instead of our selves.
Showing appreciation for the mail carrier, teacher , etc. by baking something to share
Hi Karen! The idea that impressed me the most was serving while being hungry ourselves at a shelter or soup kitchen. A client of mine once suggested that if our kids are wanting too much for Christmas, tell them that this year the funds that would have been spent on them will be spent on a needy family. Have them shop for the family with you and participate in bringing the gifts to the family. My client said this opened his childrens eyes like nothing else ever had. And because he was able to afford it, he also had a few gifts that his children wanted, hidden for them after the gifts were presented to the needy family. I also just want to say i saw You in PTC Georgia recently and loved it!
Thanks, R. Richey
I love the idea of giving the kids money specifically to give away tosomeone in need! But I have to say – all the ideas here are great ones to put into practice!! Thank you for them! :)
I loved all of your ideas and can’t wait to start these with my girls who I feel are forgetting about those less fortunate. I can’t wait to do random acts of kindness!
Love your ideas, they make sense.
One thing I did as my children grew up was each year before Christmas they were required to go thru all of their toys and belongings. No new gifts would be received until old ones were donated to our local toy drives or shelters.
We also adopted a family in need each year at Christmas, shopping for these families as a family, coming home to wrap the gifts and then delivering them to the family in person as well as providing a weeks worth of groceries. (My husbands employer at the time, coordinated the names and the needs of the families as well as the food donation) Employees and their families would make contact with an individual family and deliver the goods. A very humbling experience to say the least, my children got to see first hand what it meant to truly NEED!
Idea…..
prepare in a gallon Ziploc baggie the following:
$5 gift card to a local sandwich shop
Hat/gloves-winter months
bottled water
granola/energy bar
dried fruit
hand wipes
Bible tract or information on a bookmark/card listing serves times at local churches.
Carry this in your car with you and next time you see a homeless person asking for donations give them this instead of cash. They can get something to eat if they are really hungry and also they will get the word of God if they so choose.
My favorite idea is giving the kids money to give away – and NOT to a friend for a new toy – because that would be their first bright idea. We just returned from an errand and the kids (there are 4 of them) wanted to stop by home and get money from their piggy banks to get a new toy. I needed to get them new shoes for school. I did not react with the fruit of the Spirit, but instead went on a rampage of how I am so very tired of hearing about wanting more toys, more, more, more. What if we change our way of thinking? What if we are thankful for what we already have? What if we give away all that we have to others who don’t have toys? What if we … yes, my rampage went on and on. And of course, it did nothing to help the situation – it only made the kids think mama is going crazy, once again, let’s not listen to her rant. Anyway, I love the idea of giving them money with the rule that they must pray over it and see what God wants them to do with it. That would undoubtedly renew their minds – and it would be fun in the process! Thank you for your continued blessings to all of us and for serving God for His glory!
One rainy day we passed a person in a not-so-great part of town walking without a jacket or umbrella. One of my sons made a comment so we pulled over and gave the girl an umbrella we had in the car. After that, we went to Wal-Mart and the Dollar Store and loaded the car with umbrellas and ponchos. We pass not-so-great parts of town daily on our way to school and church and the kids have definitely become more aware of their surroundings and the needs of others. Especially when it’s raining!
Wow! Such wonderful ideas! Thank you for sharing :-) I especially liked being sneaky and roaming the streets (I know, polar opposites!). That’s our favorite way of giving back to our community. But I also liked your Proverbs 31 lesson with the M&Ms; we’re a visual family so lessons like that work the best for us.
Thanks again! Blessings :-)
I like the idea of giving them money to give away. We already try to daily complete random acts of kindness but I think I’ll integrate the others as well!
Thank you for the ideas to help us teach kids about generosity. I especially like #10…”Teach Your Kids Whose Money it is Anyway”. All of the ideas are good though. Thanks again!
I love idea number 8. I love the idea of random acts of kindness because it can be done by anyone even those of us who are disabled or on a low income. Last year I was given a $10 gift card and I gave it to a friend instead of using it myself. I have been thinking that the next time I go grocery shopping I will buy groceries for a friend who helps me do my shopping.
The idea that most resonated with me was give them money to give away. I’m always handing out money for school trips, lunches, etc, but to be given money that has to be spent/given to others, that’s great. Can’t wait to try it with my precious daughters.
Thanks so much Karen for these ideas. Number 9 really stood out to me.
I have an 11year old daughter who is alwayg money to the homeless whenever she sees them. We are going to put blessing those who serve us into practice this week.
I love the story telling! I have done this in the past, but gotten away from it in recent months. I am going to reinstate our story telling around the dinner table. God has always come through for us, often in ways that cause goosebumps and/or tears. Praise His holy name!