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Heart-y Gift Giving
Teaching Kids the True Meaning of the Giving Season By Kendeyl Johansen
Are your kids excited about opening holiday presents? Of course they are, and that's normal. But how can you teach kids that giving can be as much fun as receiving? Plan a holiday family activity that helps others and watch your kids smile with true Christmas spirit.
"Christmas is an excellent opportunity to challenge children's creativity and imagination, a proactive approach as opposed to entertainment, which is non-active," says Harvey Martin, professor of Christian education at Northwestern College in Saint Paul, Minn.
Your family might help make and serve dinner at a homeless shelter or visit a lonely nursing home resident.
"We love it when people bring in 'tray favors' -- homemade cards or small crafts to put on patient's food trays," says Merlyn Delamelena, director of volunteer services at Cottonwood Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Cottonwood Hospital needs 80 tray favors per day.
"One year during the holidays someone made cute pipe-cleaner reindeers for the trays," she says.
She stresses that cards should avoid commands like "get well soon" or "have a great day" because some patients are too sick to get well or feel better. "Use feeling phrases like 'you're special' or 'I'm thinking about you,'" she says. She encourages families to make tray-favors and deliver them to a nearby hospital.
Most hospitals don't allow homemade foods due to infection control risks and patient dietary restraints, but Delamelena suggests families make and bring in a quilt.
"We really appreciate receiving handmade baby quilts or even larger quilts for adult patients that have long hospital stays," she says.
If you're unsure about a project call your local hospital and discuss your idea with someone in the volunteer services department.
The need for charitable projects is endless. Talk with your family and find a cause that interests them. This November, Suzy Maloney of Raleigh, N.C. encouraged her sons, ages 5 and 11, to start a book collection for homeless kids. Maloney helped them make and distribute fliers asking for new children's books. The week before Christmas the family will deliver the books to a homeless shelter and ask that they be given to kids.
