We had a lesson at church on making the holidays more of what they should be... peaceful, simplistic, Christ-centered... you know. I've been thinking a lot lately about how I shouldn't want stuff so much, and then I see what we tell our kids... "what do you want for Christmas? Tell Santa what you want for Christmas. Write him a letter. etc, etc."
Nathan hadn't even thought of what he wanted before he was asked, and now he can't stop talking about the $140 dino toy, which Alex now wants, too. One woman made the comment we should not ask our kids "what do you want for Christmas?" but "what can you do to help others or give to others for Christmas?"
My kids will get presents at Christmas, because that is fun too, but how do I get them to focus on people instead of presents? I suggested that they should take their allowance next week to buy a Christmas present for Daddy, but they didn't think that was such a good idea. Hmmm....
I told them a story tonight and in the story the elves were sick so there were no presents and the children of the story were sad. "Why were they sad?" I asked. Their reply: "Because they didn't get presents?" Me: "No. Because the elves were sick and the children were worried about the elves." Then the story went on to tell about how the children went to go take care of the sick elves, etc.
I think I will try and do lots of service with them.
Any ideas?
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3 comments:
i think when i have kids we're going to have one day of shopping that is completely for a low-income family that can't have a good christmas, that they get to pick out presents for this family, and be "santa" for them. then we'll talk about how good it feels and how giving can actually make you feel better than getting. i'll also tell them that $.25 of their allowance every week has to be put in a "charity piggy bank" and when it gets full, we'll send it somewhere, probably the humane society, or change it every time. i also want to have my kids grow up to be service-centered.
Ask the Red Cross or the fire dept. if they know of a family whose house burned and had no insurance. Then you could find out where they're staying and what they might need and do a Santa visit and let the kids watch as they open the gifts so they can see and feel what charity is all about. Buy an animal from Heifer International for a family/ community in Africa and follow-up as to how it affected them. I'll think of more....
Those are great ideas. I think the fact that you are trying to teach them about service is a big step and they will feel that spirit of giving.
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