As a parent, you have a lot of influence on your children’s future behavior. Whether you like it or not, your children are more than likely going to follow in your footsteps, at least partially, so it’s important that you teach your kids about giving starting at a young age.
Whether you are rich or poor, you need to instill a sense of generosity in your children. One way would be to have a family meeting every year and take a vote on which charity or organization your family is going to support that year. By involving your kids and encouraging them to use some of their own money as well, they will feel that they are making a difference in the world. Feel free to change the charity every year based on the decisions of the family as a whole.
Another idea is to provide your kids with allowance, but then have them choose a charity of their choice that they are to contribute a part of their allowance towards.
Some families also like to support one or more children through an organization such as World Vision. Even the kids can get involved, drawing pictures and writing letter to their sponsor child. It is neat when you can pick a child that is close to your own child’s age to make it even more meaningful.
I have also heard of a family that got their kids involved in putting together Christmas shoeboxes for underprivileged children through an organization called Samaritan’s Purse. Whenever the parents took their children shopping, if one of their children asked for a toy or a gadget, then the parents would have the child pick out an additional one to be put into a shoebox. This way the children were actively involved and constantly reminded of the importance of giving and not just receiving.
There are a lot of ways you can teach your kids about giving. Use one that works best for your family and that is within your means. The important thing is that your kids see you making it a habit to be generous so that they will be generous givers as adults as well.
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