Today I want to talk about charity giving. How do we teach our children to give back to their community or other charitable organizations? There has been a lot of talk through the school systems about if community service should be a requirement. I would say yes because community service teaches children how to give back to their local community and beyond. When I was growing up I helped out with a lot of programs and never got paid for them. So I decided to write a blog post on different ways to give back to your local community and beyond. Your children need to learn what it means to give back and not expect to get paid for it.
When I was growing up I used to help out a lot at our church. I helped with church rummage sales, Chili supper, I taught Sunday School, I baby sat in the church nursery and did car washes. Churches are a great way to volunteer and give back.
Christmas is a great time to ring bells for charities. In our community, we have a special day at the library for a secret Santa gift buy. Low-income children can come and pick out gifts at a low price and the helper wrap and help them pick out gifts. Try going Christmas caroling to shut in members of your church or local nursing homes and sing Christmas Carols. This is another great way to give back.
Even when you get older you can still give back. I volunteered my time for 5 years and was a Girl Scout Helper while my oldest daughter was in Girl Scouts. During that time we taught the girls many ways to give back to their local community. Every year in September we had a Crafty Apple Fest, the girls would do face painting and beading, and other art work for a day for free. This was how they earned their Bronze Award that year. Giving back can be a lot of fun and very rewarding. Every year the kids look forward to the face painting from the Girl Scouts. Our Girl Scout troop also did a dress exchange one year. They asked everybody to donate their used prom dresses. The whole school then had a chance to pick out a used prom dress from somebody else. This saved a lot of money on a new dress they did not have to buy. The girls did not even realize that they were giving back to their community.
Another great way to give back is to volunteer at a local food pantry. Since we live on a farm and raise chickens we have extra sometimes. Two to three times a year I donate eggs to the local food pantry. Once a year our local community hands out plastic bags for food and the local Boy Scouts come and pick the food up and donate it to the local food pantry.
Take the time to talk to your children about charitable giving. Explain to them how important it is to give back. You never know if some day you might be on the receiving end of that giving. Volunteering and giving back is a very rewarding experience. If your children see you giving back, hopefully, this will teach them to also give back. Explain to your children the importance of giving back to their community and beyond. Teaching your children from little on about giving and volunteering their time is very important. I hope some of these ideas will help you and your children to give back, From Suzie Homemaker.
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