I have heard for some time from my mom that I needed to read Kisses from Katie, a story of Katie Davis, a young girl who moved to Uganda when she was 18 years old and has since adopted 13 children (by only 22 mind you) and has done more to a community than I could ever imagine someone doing, let alone, a young girl. I finally read it and could not put it down. It was an inspirational book and I highly recommend reading it. Beyond being amazed by this young girl for not only what she does and her incredible faith in God, it also got me thinking. I could do more. We could do more. As a family, we NEED to do more.
My children, hubby and I have been very fortunate in our lives. Challenges that we have faced have been minimal to the struggles of others. In fact, my children do not know what struggling means. They need to understand this. They need to have compassion for others. They need to want to give back.
My New Years resolution this year is to begin exposing my children to the world outside of their comfort zone and begin to truly teach them how to give back and care for others. It has to go beyond the simply gifts we bring to the church at Christmas time. It needs to be year round.
I have started with having each of them sponsor one child for a year through Amazima Ministries, the non-profit Katie created to help sponsor children in Uganda so they can attend school, receive 3 meals a day, have school supplies and a uniform, receive basic medical care, and teach them about God. It almost makes me sick to think how little this costs for an entire year vs. what we spend in a month at the grocery store. I am so excited for them to receive a packet from the three children we have sponsored and begin to learn about the world around them.
This is only the start though. I want to do more with them but understand with how young they are, there are limitations. I am already planning on donating food, making care packages for the troops, delivering baked goods to a senior home but I need more ideas! I would absolutely love any ideas you may have to continue our giving and teaching throughout the year. Any suggestions?
I love your thoughts....
ReplyDeleteHere are some other ideas about how to get them in the mode of thinking of the world as bigger than them, and to raise kids who are thankful.
The three jars to keep money from birthdays.....save, share, spend.....and then let them decide where they want to "share" (this uncovers some interest areas that may vary amongst the children)
You probably already have them shop with you when you adopt a family for Christmas, but this is a good one for your littlest one.......just the conversation alone is good for them "what do you think susie would like?...she is 6 and likes dolls". It gets them imagining a girl and thinking about them and you will hear the sweetest things "maybe we should get this one, since it comes with an extra set of clothes, that way she can change them and have fun with that" etc.
Servings meals or helping with crafts at a soup kitchen. Makes it more real for them to see face of kids who are just like them....usually not too far away....makes it easier for them to picture who they are helping, and also teaches them at a young age to look homeless people in the eye and not turn away. It teaches them to treat people with respect regardless of their circumstances.
At Christmas, in the past we have done a "giving" table, to try to make the holidays truly about giving. We have decked it out with stickers and fun wrapping, so they can really have fun with the "giving" part and get away from their cmas list for a minute.
At Thanksgiving, we put up big letters on the wall that say "We are Thankful" and then we provide them with sticky notes so they can write things they are thankful for and stick them all over the wall near the sign.
Back to School donations are great because kids can relate to that and it is easy to pick up extra school supplies when shopping for your own. Families forward has a program.
One year, we did a coat drive and the kids helped me collect the coats, sort the donations by gender and size, bag them up and deliver them to a local soup kitchen/homeless shelter.
A couple good websites to find charities of interest and volunteer opportunities are: www.volunteermatch.org and www.charitynavigator.org
I absolutely LOVE all these ideas! Thank you so much for sharing Tammy!
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