Teaching Your Child To Give

I'm so sad that it has taken me so long to type this post. We have a bit going on right now with Justin's mother being sick right now and it just hasn't been in the cards until today. 

Last year when Sam was two, I told him about how there are some kids who don't get anything for Christmas because their parents can't afford it. I asked him if he wanted to give some of his toys to them so they would have toys to play with. 

At first he was skiddish. He wasn't sure because he loved all of his toys (even the ones he NEVER PLAYS WITH). 

I decided to illustrate it another way. 

I said, "Sam, these other kids have no toys at all to play with. Could you imagine coming home one day and not having ANY toys to play with? Wouldn't that make you sad?"

I took a little too far... 

He puckered his face up and started to softly cry and says, "Mo-mma-dat-would-make-me weewy-sad." 

I said, "I know baby. So don't you think it'd be nice to give them some of your toys? That way you'd have toys to play with and so would they?"

He cried some more but nodded enthusiastically and started grabbing EVERYTHING!!! 

Cool light up trucks that he plays with every day... games he plays with... police cars...

I had to step in and say, "No baby! Don't give away all of your favorite toys! Let's look and see what all you have and give away stuff that isn't as much fun for you as it used to be!"

He still insisted on giving away some pretty cool toys that year but we ended up sending a few bags worth of toys to the church. 

Our church, Oak Forest Methodist, is the most giving church I've ever attended in my life. They have food pantry, free health clinic, free dental clinic, free counseling and social work services, and a free eye clinic. They feed the homeless under the bridge. And they have an average Sunday attendance of about 75 people. 

That's a lot of love for such a small church. 

I called Pastor Russ that year to see if he knew of a family that could use these toys for Christmas because I was sure he could. He said to bring them to the food pantry and they would let the families coming through for the pantry take some. Little did I know, that year there was a family that came through that wouldn't have had a Christmas for their kids had it not been for Sam's toys. 

Needless to say, I was proud of my son. 

This year Pastor Russ approached me to head up a bigger drive this year (one with more than one donor, lol). I was game for it. We made a few announcements in the Sunday services leading up to the last food pantry before Christmas. Sam made his donations (again being very generous with some pretty cool toys). 

I was scheduled to show up that Friday a bit early to help set up and sanitize toys. 

When I walked into that room I almost fell over. 

There was enough toys for 42 families! 

42!!!!

They each got to pick one per child and by the end we had them coming in to get extras because we had some left over! 

I teared up. I was so proud. The generosity of my son sparked something that made 42 families' Christmases a little bit brighter. 

Proud momma...