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My middle son’s lunch account rapidly drained each month. Now, I know he’s a teenage boy but how could he spend so much lunch money every week? I checked on-line so see the details of what he was buying every day. Usually, two lunches and sometimes three! How can he eat that much! In a fit state about his budgeting skills, I dished up every little crumb of a lesson I could think to teach him. But thankfully, before I served the lecture, I stopped to listen.
“Why are you going over budget and draining your lunch account so often?” I began. My tone probably was a bit scornful; I admit.
“Because there was a kid in front of me that didn’t have any lunch money,” he replied.
“Oh!” I had not expected that answer. Turns out, this happens quite often when he is in the lunch line at his public school. I should have known. This is the kid that when we passed a homeless man on the street when he was little, stopped to ask how we can help. And yes, I believe he’s telling the truth because he shared details.
Isn’t this our prayer for our kids? That they would be generous? How could I continue with my predetermined lecture? We ended up in a whole new, better conversation.
During the month of March, I’m praying for our kids to be generous. Ultimately, God is the Gift Giver, the Provider of everything we have. We often remind our kids that what we have belongs to God. He only gives us temporary ownership; therefore, we are open to sharing what we have with others. What we have now is here one day and gone the next. Instead, let’s focus on storing up treasures in Heaven where moth, rust, and vermin does not destroy. (Matthew 6:19-21)
I also want my kids to be cheerful givers and see the joy in giving. (2 Corinthians 9:7) When they were little, we would go through their toys and clothes to donate. Well, at first, I did this when they weren’t around. Out of sight, out of mind, right? But, when they got to be in elementary school, I started this practice with them. Yes, there was discomfort at first, but we kept up the practice and to my surprise, they started really getting into donating. Now as teenagers, they go through their belongings on their own! They aren’t allowed to get rid of anything though, until I go through it. (Sometimes I have seen them try to donate something of sentimental value.) The downside to this is that I get stuck with multiple bags of items in my room to go through! 😂
We donated various items to a lot of different ministries, a children’s hospital, goodwill, and other organizations over the years. We have also packed a lot of shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child. Our kids have gotten to see the joy of giving and I’m thankful to God for giving us so many opportunities over the years to share and help His people. After all, it really is more of a blessing to give than to receive. (Acts 20:35)
I’d love to hear how your family takes advantage of opportunities to be generous. Here are some ideas you can also consider:
Smaller/Easy Projects
Share a snack at school
Buy lunch for someone at school (more for your tweens and teens usually)
Let someone go in front of you in line at school
Do someone else’s chore for them
Hold a door open
Share a hug, high five, or smile to brighten someone’s day
Sort through and donate your clothes or toys
Give of their time
Read a book to a younger child
Volunteer to walk someone’s dog
Tutor/help with homework
Pick up trash around the neighborhood
Make cards for a local nursing home, fire department, police department, etc.
Write encouraging notes to place around your home or school
Bring donuts and orange juice to school for all the teachers and staff
Donate to a local food pantry
Larger/Longer Projects
Our middle school collects plastic bags to make hammocks for the homeless. Check out this introductory video here. There are many videos on YouTube to show you how to make hammocks or other items to donate out of your plastic bags. Our Bible Club kids did a service project where we collected the plastic bags and turned them into “plarn” to donate to the middle school where they made the hammocks. (see photos below)
Pack shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child
Make Blessing Bags to give away
Volunteer with your local Special Olympics
Volunteer with Unified sports at your school or start a Unified sports program at your school
Visit your local nursing home: play games or sit and talk with the residents. Share your talents: sing or play an instrument.
Sponsor a family
Make cookies for a neighbor or soup for someone who is sick
Decorate cans and fill with supplies for teachers (see photos below)
Make knot blankets and donate to single new moms (photos below)
Keep a Daily Gratitude Journal: I use to have one of these that I kept on the kitchen counter. Everyone in the family knew they could write in it any time. It’s fun to go back and read what the kids have written down over the years. I think I will pull this back out. 😉
Teach your kids to tithe. I created jars for my kids when they were little. One for save, spend, and give. Every time they got paid for a job, we showed them how to distribute their money into the different jars. We got ideas, books, and games from Dave Ramsey's website to continue teaching them about how to handle money so as they grow, they can learn to be debt free and give like nobody else!
For our teenagers, we switched from the jars to the envelope system where they record every dollar in their budget and only use cash. This way, they see firsthand how they are spending every dollar and money is very real to them.
Partner with your local church in service projects
Go on a mission trip (tweens and teens)
