The holiday season is here! Many take the opportunity to show charity and we should in order to model for our children what giving is about. I grew up in a very poor neighborhood in Texas. We lived in a house my grandfather built that was next to his house in a neighborhood where you couldn’t leave your sandals on the porch without them getting stolen. We had homeless people knock on our door daily. However, I never felt I was poor. I lived a very rich life filled with love from parents who spent a lot of time with my 4 sisters and I. Plus, my parents are very charitable. Every year we would deliver gifts to children far worst than us. We would give our presents away during our birthdays and Christmas to those who never had a birthday thrown for them. My father even gave away his expensive 10 foot bowling trophies to our friends. We had an open home where several children would stay when their parents were busy working to make ends meet.
Sometimes we would have 20 kids that my dad would take to the beach or to Chucky Cheese and pay for them all. He couldn’t really afford this. Some days we only ate chili con carne as our meal. I used to get angry sometimes but then later I realized in my adolescent years how blessed I was. Great things have happened and all my sisters and I managed to attend college through scholarships and grants. We have never felt true poverty like living from our car or having to figure out how to eat. Many of my friends did experience this, though, as well as many of the children I taught in Texas. Every year I volunteer my time to help others. This charitable spirit comes from parents who have the biggest hearts I know. They still help others daily.
This past Wednesday on the #PTCHAT educators, parents, principals, and other stakeholders gathered to share tips on how to encourage charitable living in our children this holiday Season!
Parentella: As a parent it is so important to me that I am raising empathetic children who grow up giving back & grow into giving adults. How can we encourage giving & charitable living in the classroom?
cybraryman1: “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am not for others, what am I? And if not now, when?”
Sara24lynn: This year my school is giving to the food bank. I always draw a kid or elder or two 2 buy for each year
jdwilliams: @Parentella my class did this about a month ago: http://mrjwilliams.com/?p=358
stumpteacher: We have done Make a Wish, various cancer groups and we have one that directly aids low income students in our own population
famousmistered: I had change jar that kids/families could donate to. Used for coin recognition & counting, then to buy items for food bank.
penny_222: One of my units was on how charities raise/spend money and what their goals are. My inspiration was Daughtry’s song ‘what about now’
Teaching kids the spirit of giving, not receiving is wonderful and one they will keep for the rest of their lives.
Parentella was created to solve the issue of parent and educator communication at elementary, middle school and high school levels. As part of this mission, we are hosting weekly #PTCHAT discussions to encourage a productive dialogue between parents and educators. We hope you will join us Wednesdays at 9 p.m. EST.
You may also want to join Parentella on Facebook to keep updated. We invite you to propose questions for upcoming topics. View the entire transcript here.
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