Teaching Kids to Give Back

‘Tis the season for joy and giving, and a time when many of us look forward to the holidays with gratitude for all the wonderful people in our lives. But for many, it’s a time of sadness. For people experiencing poverty, homelessness and illness, this time of year can bring up painful reminders.

Every parent wants their child to experience the excitement of the season, and you don’t want to take away from this by constantly reminding kids that there are others less fortunate or talking too much about the sad realities of the world. But helping them understand that a houseful of family and food and a tree stacked with presents beneath it isn’t a reality for everyone out there is important. And they need to know that there is something they can do to help some of these families who are suffering. It can feel very empowering for a child to realize they can make a positive impact on someone’s life. Many kids really get into the idea of helping out.

To start your own holiday tradition of giving back, start by sitting down with your kids and making a plan about how you will do your part to help others. In our family, we always take the children to the grocery store and load the cart full of sandwich foods like bread, meat and cheese, and then we go home and make stacks of sandwiches together. Even the little ones can help by placing the slices of cheese on the bread or putting the sandwiches in the cooler. Then we head down to a local neighbourhood with a high homeless population and hand them out. The kids are genuinely excited about doing this, and they love handing out the food. People are very appreciative, and this made the kids feel good about what they’re doing.

Tips for giving back

• Help out at a soup kitchen one night. You can contact your local community services and ask about meals that are being hosted for less fortunate families. Your family can help cook, serve and clean up.
• Sponsor a local family. Find out which organization is providing gifts and food hampers to needy families and offer to sponsor a family. Your whole family can go out and buy gifts for the children and pick out the food. Kids usually really enjoy choosing gifts for other children and will often have great ideas.
• Contact your local seniors center and ask if the children can bake some goodies and come deliver them in person. Christmas can be a lonely time for many seniors who can’t be with their families. They are often thrilled to see children, and it could go a long way to brighten their holidays.

At this time of year it’s easy for kids to concentrate on all the material things they want, and that’s only natural. Opening presents on Christmas morning is one of the most exciting days of the year for most kids, as well it should be. But you will be surprised to see how excited they can be about helping others as well. Setting up a small family tradition of giving to those less fortunate can be a gift to you all.

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