Teaching Generosity To Children Through Kindness
If you are a regular reader on inRdream.com you would know kindness is a huge part of my passion. Last year our family purchased and asked our sponsors to also donate in our Mountain of Kindness filled with gifts and personal items for families in our communities. This personal goal quickly turned into a family adventure that filled all our hearts with love and generosity.
Tips on Teaching Generosity To Children:
- Communicate with them. Be open about everything. Teaching your children about the less fortunate in their communities or overseas, opens up their eyes to a whole world they never would have known about.
- Take your children on a kindness adventure with you. You may have read this month’s post Random Act of Kindness to a #TideColdHero. I brought our children along this time and each time I drop off or make a donation to support a cause. Before, during and after the process I teach them all I can on the topic.
- Make kindness a real thing. This Christmas we spoke openly with the kids about the less fortunate overseas and came to an agreement that in lieu of teacher’s gifts we would make a donation to World Vision of 2 chickens and 1 hen to their school. In return, the handwritten letters from their teachers, made our thoughtful gift even more thoughtful in the end.
- Teach them through your actions. I have always had a pull in my heart-strings in generosity. Whether it is a birthday or celebration I put love and thought into each gift I give so the recipient feels extra loved. Something as simple as thinking about the recipient together and exploring ways to make them smile, teaches another important lesson.
- Donate items in your home. Each season I have boxes and bags of donations that we call and have Canadian Diabetes Clothesline come and pick up. Yes I could sell them and make a few bucks but these donation are my way of giving back to my community. Our children always gather one or two items from their rooms that they don’t use anymore to add to my donation pile.
- Take your children to Walmart and buy the participating P&G household product* which in turn will donate one day of clean drinking water to a thirsty family. These items such as Pampers Swaddlers Diapers Jumbo Pack, Mr. Clean Antibacterial Multi-Surfaces Liquid are just some of the essential items Canadian families like us use each day and can’t imagine living without. By stocking up on P&G products like these at Walmart or Walmart.ca, you’ll be taking a small step to make a big difference. Before, during and after the process teach them all you can on the importance of clean water and kindness. {Learn more on how you can help below…}
- How are you Teaching Generosity To Children?
Clean Water Lunch and Learn
Recently, I had the chance to meet and enjoy lunch with Canadian actor, director and clean water advocate Jason Priestley. Someone I grew up watching weekly on 90210 and someone my tween girl self would never dream of meeting, let alone having lunch with. We were brought together for a great cause and something us Canadian’s take for granted. Something we expect to run clear from our pipes and we all should be consuming at least 8 glasses of it a day!
Clean Water!
During our lunch and learn I learn a bit more about the P&G and Walmart Clean Water Initiative lead by P&G Children’s Safe Drinking Water (CSDW). This program helps to provide clean drinking water to people in need through a water purifying technology developed by P&G.
P&G and Walmart Clean Water Initiative process is quick and simple one small P&G purification packet quickly turns 10 litres of dirty, potentially deadly, water into clean, drinkable water.
I seen this demonstration happen before my eyes and it was a heart pulling moment that I still had a hard time to accept. There are families who today won’t have a clean glass of water to offer their children. This is a hard situation to grasp and seeing clean water purify before my eyes gave me hope for those families and children.
WE NEED YOUR HELP –> P&G has pledged to donate the equivalent of one day of clean drinking water for every participating P&G household product* purchased in Walmart stores or online at Walmart.ca from February 19 to March 19, 2015. Let’s help them meet their goal and bring 25 million days of clean drinking water to people who desperately need it.
P&G is Generous
One In R Dream reader will WIN a P&G goodie bundle (valued at approximately $95*)! The giveaway includes:
Swiffer Sweep & Trap Starter Kit | Mr. Clean Antibacterial Multi-Surfaces Liquid Cleaner | Tide Pods Spring Meadow | Dawn Ultra Original Scent with Active Suds Dishwashing Liquid | Febreze Extra Strength | Febreze Air Effects Unstopables Fresh | Febreze Air Effects Unstopables Lush | Febreze Candle Unstopables Fresh | Febreze Candle Unstopables Lush | Febreze Fabric Refresher Unstopables Lush | Febreze Noticeables Unstopables Fresh | Febreze Noticeables Unstopables Shimmer – $5.99
Canada only {excludes Quebec} ends 03/20
Disclosure: I am a P&Gmom/mamanP&G. As part of my affiliation with this group I receive products and special access to P&G events and opportunities. The opinions on this blog are my own.
By entering the following contest you are accepting that if you win your contact information will be shared with a P&G PR and shipping agency for the purpose of mailing your prize. Please allow 4-6 weeks from the contest closure date to receive your prize.
This giveaway may appear on other blogs as part of the #PGmom/#mamanPG program. However, to be fair, you can only win once per giveaway. If your name is chosen more than once, another winner will be selected. All winners must be from within Canada.
*For more information about this program and a full list of participating P&G products available at Walmart, visit walmart.ca/cleanwater.
**Pricing at the discretion of the retailer.
#5. Donate items in your home. We typically donate to our local food bank and old winter clothing to the local shelter
Lead by example for your children. Volunteer as a family.
I really like the donation tip,if you can give back you really such,you will also teach your children to give
My favorite tip was to make kindness a real thing! To often we forget.
We do a lot of donating and they get pretty excited giving their gently used stuff a new loving home.
I like your donation tip. It’s something we can do as a family and get our little ones involved. Such a wonderful campaign that’s really made me stop and think just how fortunate we are!
My granddaughter sorted through her clothes and toys to load up a box to donate to a family who was burned out of their home in a big apartment fire. The fact that the child was the same age and in a single parent family is a situation that matched my granddaughter. It helped her identify with that family.
regular donations and community service works for us
Teach them through your actions
We act as an example to let our kids know that we are very lucky and we should help others whenever we can. We make monthly donations to different charities and now my kids starts their own contribution (like donate a new toy to toy drive)
Tip #5 Donate items in your home is a good one!
I think “Donate items in your home” is a great tip. Not only can you help someone else, but it is also a chance to teach others big and small about “needs versus wants” and also responsible actions (charity, keeping clean, etc.).
I like to teach by example. I volunteer at a local homeless shelter and I often bring my girls with me so that they can see first hand the challenges other people may face.
Teach them through your actions. So true. As a kid, I tried being just like my parents.
I try to lead by example for my children. We have conversations about kindness and I encourage my kids to participate in random acts of kindness too.
Make a tradition out of donating annually!
Children learn by example so if we, as parents, donate to worthy causes and support causes like giving toys away at Christmas to those less fortunate, help out neighbours in need etc etc then they will find it natural to give. They will learn to make the world a little better for those who have so little.
Our family has always donated clothing and household goods and recycled everything that is recyclable. We also always help neighbors with chores, especially the seniors.
Tip #5 Donate items in your home.
I try to foster the spirit of kindness in the kids by showing them by example and pointing out when they be nice to others, it will come back to you. What goes around comes around with kindness.
Tip #5 Donate items in your home. We do this one. We donate used clothes and toys.
Telling someone you appreciate them costs you nothing and yet it can make someone’s day! I know feeling appreciated means more than any gift!
we always donate at christmas time, I raised my son on my own and he knows how it is when things are tough so giving back now that we can makes us feel great
Lead by example. We try to donate what we can and help others and teach the kids why we do all this
Each year we adopt families in need through the school and church to give food and presents too! We also practice random acts of kindness throughout the year to show my kids how to practice kindness.
We donate to the Christmas Bureau each year and like to take our grandkids along to help us drop off all of the toys and clothing. I think it helps them to understand that there are less fortunate families in our community.
Learning their manners and using them is the best sign of kindness to others.
I’ve thought my daughters to give either their time with helping out at the soup kitchen, donating food to our local food bank, filling shoe boxes at Christmas time for Christmas child or lending a hand when you see that someone needs it..whether it’s opening a door or helping someone carry their groceries to their car
I like to have my kids help out with donating and giving. We go shop together for items for the food bank and toy drive. We drop off used clothes together. I think having them there being hands on makes a big difference.
Where would any of us be without clean water? So go and purchase a P&G item or two or three and help those that need clean water for survival!
I often take my girls with me when I volunteer at the local homeless shelter. I like to teach them by example.
We donate clothes and toys several times through out the year.
At any one time, more than half the world’s poor are ill due to inadequate sanitation, water or hygiene.
They are all good tips,,Teach them through your actions and donate items in your home,and show kindness all around,,all great ideas to teach your kids! 🙂
We teach our grandkids to be generous and kind. We don’t have a lot of money, but we do donate items to local charities and take a couple of the grandkids with us. I see it as a great opportunity for them!
I like your post on Make kindness a real thing.
I teach Sophie to show others kindness by donating old toys she doesn’t play with anymore to others.
I like your Donate Items in your Home tip. I’ve been teaching my son to donate toys he doesn’t play with anymore when I take items from my home in for donation.
We always donate food to out soup kitchen as well as bake for them on Holiday , Thought out the year also drop off new & used household items from our home. This way they can use them or gift them!
I like your Make kindness a real thing tip. It’s true. don’t just talk about it.
One of my tips is to lead by example, kids will follow if they see us doing it.
Children learn through your actions.
I think it’s easy to take for granted sometimes that not everyone has access to clean water, I think it’s very important to realize not everyone has this luxury, I love this campaign Walmart does
Having been in Africa, I saw up close the value of #CleanWater
Teach them through your actions.
We always donate 4 times a year. We donate items from food, clothing to cash. We always tell our kids what we are doing and why we are doing it. They also come with us when we make our donations so they see where things are going and why these families needs these items so much more than we do.
I taught my girls to donate their good used toys that they no longer played with and to respect others and to use manners at all times. Because we are a lower income family they were raised with shopping at thrift stores and to be thankful for what you do have!
I think its wonderful P&G is doing this. The packets are essential!!
Teaching children empathy is definitely a key when how to treat others.
The Cleanwater twitter party was very informative and reminded us not to take clean water for granted.