5 Ways to Raise Generous Kids

Dema Kohen, author of the 9-week series The Great Money Adventure, includes these 5 tips for parents in his curriculum resource. Here are 5 simple ways to raise generous kids…

VOLUNTEER. Volunteering teaches your kids that giving to others is an act rather than a concept.

TELL STORIES. Explain how the generosity of others has helped you, or how someone’s generous spirit has helped your child. Doing so will instill a desire to pay it forward.

LEAD BY EXAMPLE. Our kids imitate our actions, so let them see you help their teacher in the classroom, ask your grocery checker how their day is going, collect cans for the food bank, visit senior citizens who may be lonely, etc.  There are so many ways to be generous with your spirit – and your kids will grow up wanting to do the same.

BROADEN THEIR VIEW OF THE WORLD. We tend to protect our kids in a bubble, and rightly so to an extent. But we can get them beyond their limited perspective by teaching them about people in need and get them involved by donating time or goods to others. Make soup to deliver to an elderly neighbor. Have them select toys and books they no longer use to donate to a shelter. Take a new teddy bear to the local children’s hospital for a suffering child. Make no-sew blankets for the homeless. No act of charity is too small. Full generosity challenge coming Friday!

MAKE THANK YOU CARDS A HABIT. Handwritten thank-you notes have become a lost art, which is unfortunate. When kids take a few minutes to reflect upon and acknowledge the kind deed of someone selecting, buying, wrapping, and giving them a gift, it teaches them the full circle process of being both a giver and a gracious recipient. It’s hard for a ‘gimme’ attitude to co-exist with a child who has learned to be gracious.