Giving from the HEART!

Giving should never come JUST once a year , but getting children to understand this concept can be quite troublesome. Giving should be a lesson-learned everyday not just around the holidays.For me I teach lessons of giving in a classroom of young children everyday and all day. We learn throughout the year to give of one another’s knowledge, we strive to help those who learn more slowly than others, we give of our time and thoughtfulness when others don't feel well, and this holiday season we have learned to give to those who are needy and less fortunate than ourselves.

 My mother always shared this; " Be kind to everyone for, everyone is fighting a hard battle."  This is rings so true in my life as an adult and I always make it a point share this advise with the children in my class. Amazingly, I have never had a class who forgot this saying of my mothers. I'm not quite sure what it is about the phrase, but they understand it at  such a tender age. I explain that everyone has bad days and bad problems that come up. As adults we have to help children realize that we must take care of one another in this world. Creating children with kind character will be the thread that holds this great country together when I am gone.  To even live as a peaceful nation we must help those who cannot help themselves at times. A lot of times this "time" is around the holidays.

Our class recently participated in Project Christmas, a local charity that gives to families whom have fallen on hard times. For much of our community, it’s many of its citizens! Community members have lost job after job and our loss of factory  employment  has left our community ravaged and cracking at its seams.

I sent a flyer for the Project Christmas home with my children and didn't think twice about the impact my class could have until one child brought in a bag of canned foods a couple of days later. The child remembered the quote from my mother and said, " Here Miss, Smith, remember we have to help others who cannot help themselves".  "Wow", I thought to myself. What a wonderful lesson learned.

 I shared what the child did with the whole class and shared that they had remembered what I said earlier in the year. The next week came and I had 138 cans of food in my classroom floor. The children gave with everything they had and they gave with genuine hearts. Some children probably gave when it was themselves who needed the assistance.

 At the end of the food drive the school collected a little over 400 cans. To know that our classroom  of five and six year olds collected 138 of that,  was an amazing feeling. It was the feeling of true holiday spirit.

 To add icing to the cake of this lesson, we learned that our class earned a Christmas Pizza Party for collecting the most cans of food. The children were of course excited but I knew they understood the real sprit of giving when the cheering stopped and multiple children turned to me and said, " We didn't need the pizza, we could have given that to the hungry people  too".  Tears streamed down my face after the children left the classroom. To know that you have truly helped cultivate a child who understands is the blessing of a lifetime.

My sole  suggestion  would be to extend the life long lesson of giving into your child’s character. Create a child who wants to give of his or her talents or gifts. Even the poorest of poor have something to give; kindness and love for one another.