Teaching My Children How To Be Thankful and Thoughtful!

Thankful ~ feeling or expressing gratitude; appreciative.

Thoughtful ~ showing consideration for others; considerate.

Last year I started a tradition with my oldest son, Christmas eve we went through his toys and picked out ones to donate to children who didn't have any. He was so big and brave about it, its hard for a young child to part with toys...even if they haven't played with them in a while or they were broken (those ones went in the trash). This year we started a little earlier with our tradition so that the toys, books and stuffed animals could go to family's in need for the holidays.

Times are tough, and for the most part we pass clothes down from oldest child to youngest. Receive hand me downs from friends older kids and we consign things once maybe twice a year for extra money. While my family is not immune to the woes of the economy, we are blessed to have roof over our head, family who helps us so much we cant even begin to express our thanks. In return its my honor to raise my children to know how much we have and how much we have to offer not only in monetary items but time and support. However at such a young age this may not be easy or even appropriate to ask a 3 and 4 year old to comprehend. So while its still a work in progress and each year we tweak our family's traditions I thought I would share with you our ideas, tips and tricks. Would love to hear from you, comment below on what your family does and how you explain or show "Thankful" and/or "Thoughtful" to your children.

Donating Used Toys, Book, Stuffed Animals: Around this time of year in early November I start prepping the boys that as we get closer to Thanksgiving we will be going through our toys to give to people who may not have any toys, books and what not. I let them ask questions, usually they dont have many at first they kinda take it all in. I may even hear "What? No!" but
I haven't heard much of that and its not bad even if I do, thats my job...to explain WHY.

Some questions I did finally get this past week and how I answered them.

Wyatt: "Why are we getting rid of our toys?"
Me: "We are not getting rid of them, we are giving them (or donating, or passing them along) to other little boys and girls who do not have any toys."

Wyatt: "Why do they not have any toys?" (Or Why dont there Mommy's and Daddy's buy them new toys was another way he asked)
Me: "I am sure every Mommy and Daddy wants to be able to buy there kids anything they want but sometimes they have to buy more important things first, like food or a house. Toys are special and good but food is better and they need that more. So some kids are not able to have toys like you and Nash do. We are very lucky to be able to buy both FOOD and TOYS."

I haven't gotten a "I dont want to" yet but was prepared for this and would say.

"Its your choice what to give and what to keep. If you needed toys and books I would hope another boy or girl who had a lot would be so nice and give you some of theirs. Luckily your so blessed to have so many people who can give you new toys and books. So many that if you CHOOSE to, you can give some that we have outgrown to other kids who need them."

I ask the boys to make 3 piles with me, Keep, Give/Donate, and "Think about it". (The think about it pile helps the process go faster so I am not holding up toys with them hemming and hawing lol) We then go through everything in the room, cleaning and organizing while we go. Toys, Book and Stuffed Animals get a quick once over and the boys and I place it in a pile. If its in the Give/Donate pile I make sure to go through them first to pull out broken toys and toss those before donating. Nothings worse than donating broken toys and a child accidentally getting something very broken so make sure you pull those out on the side (the boys feel like they are donating everything but I just do it later). For the most part this year they were very good about saying keep and donate with things, I would agree with almost all there decisions. Sometimes they got overzealous and wanted to donate something of there brothers lol or something I felt they would miss greatly or on the flip side keep something they haven't touched in forever and have outgrown (age, size) and we would then put it in the think about it pile and later after *thinking about it* 95% of the pile went to donate after all!

In the end we had 1 large (like lawn and leaf bag) of stuffed animals, 1 large bag of toys, and a med bag of books to donate!! I am so very proud of my boys, it really warmed my heart to see them *GET* the concept of donating there old toys.

We also went through our cabinets and donated food, this was somewhat easy for Wyatt (Veggies, veggies, and more veggies can go....lol) Nash was honestly concerned we wouldn't have any food thought. I just explained we have so much food we can give a little to people who need food. He came with me today to the food bank and was very cute and said "We brought you lots and lots of food!!" got much thanks from the staff it was very sweet even thought he doesn't get this all yet.

At the stores when they have those food collections out side the door at our local grocery store I have the boys pick out a can of soup or boxed meal to donate, even just $1 cans of soup help and the boys get to put them in the bins and its a small moment to explain we have so much and some people need some and we can help give them some. Same theory goes for the bell ringers with our spare change!!

I thought about posting resources for those who are looking to donate items and food to local food banks but with everyone all over the country its likely easier to use some key words and search at http://www.google.com/ or even better http://www.goodsearch.com/ a search engine that every time you search the Internet at GoodSearch.com, your charity or school earns money and the more you search the more they earn. Also Fifty percent of the revenue generated from the sponsored search advertisers is shared with the charity, school or nonprofit organization of your choosing. So try looking with your city's name and these key words for information on how to drop off donations. Food Bank, Clothing Bank, Gently used toys and books, Emergency Family Services.

When all else fails check with your local schools sometimes they take items (backpacks, coats and school supplies especially) OR they can put you in contact with someone in your community who can help. Unfortunately schools see the need first hand, children coming to school with little or no food, and inadequate clothing for the season or in general.

As the kids get older I will expand our giving to not just seasonal and not just THINGS. Its important that they know time is also a very important and a valued commodity to help in our community. I have always worked in our community, from working with DAWN (Domestic Abuse Womans Network), Girl Scouts and now Relay For Life. Giving back with our time can be very rewarding and valuable to our community.