Play Eat Grow: Grow: The Gift of Giving

It can be challenging, during the everyday busyness of life, to grasp each opportunity we have to impress on our children things that are of spiritual significance. As I commented while talking with some fellow moms yesterday, “No one in my family will be naked or hungry if I forget to talk about God. Everyone would notice really quickly if I stopped cooking or doing laundry!” Thankfully, this week I had the chance to turn what could have been an “autopilot” decision with my son into a conversation about what really matters. And it all started with a bouncy ball…

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The birthday celebration policy at my kindergartener's new school states that because so many children have food allergies, children are not allowed to send in treats to celebrate their birthdays. If parents would like to, they can send in a party favor bag for each student in the class, or they can donate a book to the class library. I had already started thinking about what we could do, but something happened that made me decide I am definitely NOT sending home party favor bags. What was it? Well my son came home with one such bag earlier this week. The stickers went up to his room to languish in a pile of arts and crafts supplies. The bouncy ball was fought over with his brother for 20 minutes before being bounced into the ~~chaos that is our basement~~ playroom and lost. And I reasoned, "I really don't need to do that to anyone else..."

"Ok, no problem," I thought. "I'll get a book for the classroom. I wonder what would be a good book. I wonder what books they have already. I wonder if they would only want a hardback book..." It was then that I realized I was missing the opportunity to teach my son something about giving. Of course we are going to give him presents on his birthday, but on our budget the only classroom gifts we could give would either be a) plastic junk that nobody needs and will be broken or lost in five seconds, or b) classroom supplies that would probably be used but are in no way needed at this already well supplied school. That’s when I had my 'ah ha' moment.

Why don't we give something to someone who actually needs it?!? I could let my son choose the gift. It will be purchased in honor of his birthday and he can tell his classmates about it. It will actually matter! And it helps reinforce a truth I want my children to know: they live lives of privilege, and with that privilege comes responsibility. The ability to give to others is a gift, in and of itself, and one that had best be used before selfishness and discontentment take root.

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The two of us sat down and looked at World Vision's gift catalog. I narrowed our search for gifts that were under $25, and we watched the videos and read the descriptions of the gifts we thought looked interesting. We learned that some children have never played with a real ball before, and the gift of a soccer ball brings much joy. For children with troubled backgrounds, music and art are healthy outlets. And children who probably will not get any other birthday presents can be part of the World Vision annual birthday celebration, which helps them feel valued and loved. After much debate, my son decided to give the gift of three ducks to a family in need. He thought the ducks were cute, and liked that someone could eat or sell the eggs. So while he felt a moment of sadness over not handing out bags of treats to his classmates, he is also excited to explain that instead of buying treats for his class he has bought ducks for a needy family, and that "makes God really happy."