How to Raise Charitable Children – an important question.
Have you ever wondered how to raise charitable children who understand the phrase We rise by lifting others – Maya Angelou (Author and Activist)
This week has seen the launch of my brand new well-being activity book for kids Create Your Own Kindness
It’s about teaching kids to be kinder to themselves, to each other and to the world as a whole and it contains 50 fun, exciting and thought provoking activities to guide kids into becoming more charitable children.
It was published this week and can be purchase from Amazon and all good book shops
How to raise Charitable Children
How to raise charitable children – what can parents do?
Parents can help teach their children about giving to charity by teaching them about money, making donations and helping kids donate their own time and money.
By helping children get involved in charitable giving and showing them how you choose to donate your own resources of time and money, kids can learn about wise money management, the pleasure of giving to others and compassion for those who are suffering. Here’s some ideas to help you teach children about giving to charity.
Talk to Children About Money
If a child has no understanding of where money comes from other than seeing you put your bank card into the ATM and get a handful of cash in return, it will be difficult for them to understand the concept of giving to those in need. After all, if it is as easy as walking up to an ATM, everyone should have plenty of money, right?
By helping a child understand that money comes from a combination of hard work, education, birth and a person’s individual talents he will be better able to understand how some people can have more money than they need and others don’t have enough to buy food or pay for housing. When children receive an allowance that is dependent on good behavior and participation in household chores they will be able to see personally how the amount of money they receive depends on what they do, and they will also have some money of their own to save, spend or give to charity.
Let Your Children See You Giving to Charity in order to raise Charitable Children
Sometimes it is hard for children to recognize your actions as a donation, especially if you choose to donate by writing a check or giving your credit card number over the phone. Children, especially young children, live in the present moment, so try to show them tangible ways of helping others such as volunteering together in a soup kitchen, giving food or vouchers to homeless people, taking groceries to the food bank or putting money in the Salvation Army kettle or church collection plate.
It’s also a good idea to teach your little ones that donating time is often just as powerful as donating money and things. Take the whole family for an outing serving dinner at a local soup kitchen or make a habit of keeping a basket of fruit or snacks in the car to give to hungry people in need. (The balance)
Charitable Children
How to Help Charitable Children Donate Money or Volunteer Time
For older children who are earning an allowance and want to donate some of their earnings to a charity, sit down with them and talk about the issues they believe need their support. Do they want to send money to children in Africa, or are they more concerned about environmental issues?
Once they have decided where they want to donate their money, you’ll probably need to help them get their money there, either by driving to a local charity to donate cash in person or going to the bank and changing their cash for a cheque to be sent in the mail. After they have made their donation, talk to them about how they think their money might be spent and who or what will benefit from it. Children can also give their time by volunteering, alone or with a parent, depending on their age.
Kids can volunteer by helping walk dogs at a local animal shelter, visiting seniors at a care home or picking up garbage in your neighbourhood.
Here is a a huge list of ways that people can volunteer while still exploring the world!
Charitable Children
Raising charitable children requires role modelling
Raising charitable children involves modeling generous behavior yourself and providing them with the money and opportunity to donate to charity themselves. Whether your children choose to donate cash to a homeless shelter or volunteer to participate in a beach clean up, by helping them give to charity you are teaching them about money and the pleasure of sharing with others.
The Fun of Fundraising for Charitable Children
The following is an extract form my book Create Your Own Kindness about how to put the fun into fundraising and you might want to share it with your kids
Fundraising is when you raise money for a cause or charity through your efforts.
There are so many ways to fund raise from car boot sales to karaoke nights, putting on a talent show to a sponsored silence
5 steps to fundraising success for Charitable Children
- Think about which cause to raise money for
- Rope in some helpers (unless you plan to do it solo) then
- Make a mind map of ideas on how to fund raise
- Settle on the idea you like best and is most do-able
- Put it into action
As a kid you might feel quite powerless sometimes when it comes to helping people /causes because you don’t have much money. But, when you fundraise you will be empowered as you have raised the money to make a difference.
Fundraising is definitely good for everyone,
What not to do :
There are something you can’t do if you are under 13
- street and house-to-house collections;
- lotteries or raffles; and
- events involving alcohol.
But don’t worry about that because there are many many things you can do!
What fundraising teaches you
The cause you are raising money for isn’t the only thing to benefit from fundraising. It teaches you money skills, how to think creatively, empathise with others in need, work alongside other people and it helps you feel part of a community that cares. It can also be loads of fun to fund raise . You will feel proud too of what you achieve and quit possibly make some new friends in the process.
It’s well worth it!
Let me tell about some fabulous fundraisers
- When she was 10 my daughter Lise and her friend made a magazine full of puzzles and how-to’s and sold it (along with a book and cake sale) to raise £100 for Rainbows hospice.
- Tom lives in Tasmania and is 11. He does a toy and book clear out every year and sells them to raise money for Sea Shepherd, which is a marine conservation organisation. He usually raises about $100 a year
- Izzy lives in Nottingham raised money for the princesses trust when she was 9. She spent nearly 2 yrs growing her hair so she could cut it and send it to the charity.She also managed to raise £500 in sponsors. She was aiming for £500 as that’s the full cost of making and fitting a custom wig for a child.
- Ben is from Manchester he raised £650 for Diabetes UK by taking part in the Ride Yorkshire sportif & cycling 40 miles just two weeks after his 10th birthday.
- Amelie is 8 and Lottie is 5 and they live in Yateley, Hampshire raised £500 for the NHS fund by making and selling rainbow loom bracelets.
- Pip and Max raised £40 for the RSPCA when they were 6 and 8. They made cupcakes and sold them to their neighbours
- Alexander aged 10 from Notts is also raising money for the NHS by doing a 200 mile bike ride. At the time of writing he has raised £535.
Amazing – Huge well done to all these superstars what fabulous fundraising ideas they put into action.
So if you want to raise charitable children DO get a hold of my book Create Your Own Kindness and putting the activities into action
Join the 5 frugal fridays link up!
Have you done something positive with money this week and written about it ? If so please do join the link and tell me all about it:
Simply add the following to your post and then add it to the link below
I’m linking up with Emma and Becky and Cass in this week’s ‘Frugal Friday’ linky
