Create a Family Night Around Giving...

In light of the Earthquake in Haiti, I was inspired to create a Family Night in which my children could learn the benefit of giving.  Given that they are still pretty young, I knew I had to keep it simple.

This post is an encouragement to you as moms to not just donate monetarily,  but take it a step further with your children to make giving more tangible.

For example, my church built an orphanage by the airport in Port Au Prince, and we are working through them to get supplies. Rather than donating $50, which will buy 50 lbs of rice and beans, we are going to go to Costco and buy some large bags of rice and beans, and deliver them to the large trailer that will be shipped to Haiti.

I 'hope' this will show my girls how giving is for a specific reason, to help people. I also want them to help me make some baby blankets for a specific family that my friend knows who has children and lost everything.

I was greatly inspired by this article over are KooDooz Blog... I highly suggest you read it if you are looking for doing something a little different than giving through Red Cross (although that is great too!) For older children, see if they would be willing to do some chores or give some of their savings money to help Haiti or a select organization.

The whole idea is to make the 'idea' of giving a 'tangible' thing to children. Here are some great websites that should inspire you to move forward in the area of 'family giving'.

KooDooz Blog 

Kidz World- How Kids Can Help

PBS.org- How to Talk To Your Kid about the Earthquake in Haiti

Christian Post- World Day of Fasting and Prayer on January 22, 2010

Soles4Souls- Gently worn shoes sent directly to Haiti

Getting your children to think about giving to others is very important so they will develop into givers as adults... foster this area in your child's hearts while spending truly quality time together.

Thanks!