Generosity is one of the virtues that is very essential to keep a good relationship with people around you. Being generous is about being bighearted, giving, thoughtful and empathizing to other people especially those who are in need.
As parents, it is our obligation and responsibility to choose what virtues we would like our kids to possess. Children are born like empty books. It’s their parents, guardians, and people who are with them every day who will fill them up of behaviors, virtues, and conducts. These are what they will bring and develop as they get older and face the world by themselves. In this article, let me share with you how to teach your kids to grow with generosity inside their hearts.
8 Tips in Raising Generous Kids
•Be an Example
Children learn and develop from what they observe everyday. What you teach them definitely matters. Since you are someone your child gets to spend most of his time with,he will look into how you behave and mimic it. Be a good example and source of generosity. Show to them how to have a giving heart for everyone, family or not.
•Encourage Your Kids to Have Empathy
Being sensitive, understanding, and mindful of how other people feel is the start of being generous. Children are naturally born egotistical. However, parents have the power to change it. Look for opportunities in your everyday life to show and encourage them of caring about how other people may feel. For example, ask your child “how do you think your sister feels when you change the tv channel while she’s still watching?”. Starting from these simple situations will teach your child to be mindful and sensitive to other people’s feelings. From there, they will develop of becoming kinder, more giving, and generous individuals.
If your goal is to raise your kid as a person who has a very positive outlook in life, check this article for positive affirmations.
•Appreciate and Praise Them for their Generous Deeds
If your child is finally able to show generosity to other people, appreciate him. When he finally shows thoughtfulness on how others may feel, praise him. Tell him how proud you are that he is someone who has a good and big heart. Talk to him about it and show to him that he is doing something you are really proud of. He will instill in his head that he will be appreciated and more loved if he shows generosity towards everyone.
•Let Them Participate in Small Generous Deeds
You can start from home. Simple things that can encourage and build up his generosity. Example, giving food to hungry stray animals. Sharing food to neighbor’s daughter who is sick. These simple gestures will show him how love multiplies and radiates from your home to everyone around your neighborhood if there is generosity.
More than just ensuring that our kids have great virtues and values, parents need to make sure too that their kids have a happy childhood. This is something they will carry with them all through their lives. Read this article about how to give your kids a happy childhood. Take time and make sure that your child is having something worth remembering and keeping.
•Doing Charity Work as a Family
Aside from giving you time to bond and connect with everyone in your family, this will also teach the younger ones the virtues and positive outcome that there is when you give to those who are in need. It doesn’t really need to be grand, just something within your capabilities. For example, giving out outgrown clothes and used toys to children to an orphanage. Giving preloved books to public schools. Let them participate so they will see how many lives they could touch by the good deeds of your family.
Other than charity works, if you are looking forward to joining some events in your area as a family and don’t know how to find them, here’s an article you should check out.
•Talk to Them About Generosity
Point out when you see someone is being generous. Tell them how good it is. You can also try talking to them about how God has been so generous to us (or to your family) and how we should be generous to one another too. Talk to them about generosity until it becomes a part of them too.
•Tell Your Kids Stories and Read Books that Exhibit Being Generous
Be if from your own life experiences of how someone had been so generous to you when you were once in need, or from children’s books, tell them these stories about how generosity can change someone’s life. This is one way of cultivating your children’s generosity, as well as letting them imagine the feeling of how it is to give.
•Do It Their Way
To make it more engaging and exciting for your kids, ask them if there is something they’d want to be generous to, and help them with it. If they can’t think of any, tell them to look for something that stirs their heart and they’d feel the urge to help and do something. For example, a classmate who often goes to school without snacks, let them bring something for him. Or maybe if your kid sees a poor stray kitten, ask him if he wants to take charge and adopt him. Things like these will let them practice generosity their own way and make things sweeter since they are the ones who chose whom they would help.
Being generous is something you will never regret showing to your kids. I, personally have two little boys aged 2 and 4. I’m always in awe every time they tend to show generosity and thoughtfulness to other people.
Let me tell you a story, my son who is a preschooler went home sad one day. I was curious about what happened at school so I persistently begged him to share it with me. He said he had a classmate who didn’t eat snacks at breaktime. My son asked if his classmate forgot his food but he said his mom didn’t give him food for snacks. Not because she forgot, but because they don’t have any. He started crying, maybe because he felt awful and embarrassed. At his young age, my son was moved and decided to bring extra snacks for that classmate in case he doesn’t have anything to eat again.
I was so happy that all my efforts had never gone to waste. All the reminders and teachings about being helpful and being generous towards others are now finally instilled in his heart. It was not and ot will never be an easy journey. Just don’t quit because one day, you will witness the good act your child will finally show. You might even cry, but not because you’re sad, you will cry proud, happy tears!
