Teaching children to be givers and leading by example is an important component to their success.
There will be no lesson learned in teaching your child to be a giver IF they don't see YOU giving too.
What are you doing that leads the way for your child to follow?
And more importantly, what attitude do you have when you give?
So let's see:
1. When was the last time your child saw you give money? Caution. If you asked for a receipt, your child may not be learning the lesson you intend to teach.
2. When was the last time your child saw you volunteer your time for a worthy cause? Be careful here. If you gained anything from what you did, even recognition, your child will likely not count that as giving.
3. The last time you saw a homeless person on the street, what did your child hear you say?
4. When someone walks up to you and asks if you can spare some change, what does your child see and hear from you?
5. What happens to your old clothes, shoes, purses, neckties, wallets, hats, gloves, etc.?
6. How much food does your family throw in the trash? Danger Zone. Do NOT force your kids to eat what they put on their plates. Do NOT tell them about the starving kids in Ethiopia. Do NOT reward or praise them for finishing everything on their plates. Do NOT say "oh you can finish that last bit of food" or "it's a shame to waste that little bit of food"
ALL of those behaviors create overweight adults and now even worse, overweight kids. Instead, teach your children to take small portions of food and go back for seconds.
7. Are you still eating out and tipping 10%?
8. When you get a gift you don't like or get no gift at all, do your children hear you murmur and complain?
9. Is your house filled with stuff? I mean, do you buy every kitchen gadget that sounds good on TV and then never use them? Do you boast to your friends about having the biggest TV and say it's so everyone can see when they come over for Monday night football?
10. Are your children watching you struggle to pay for a car and house you can't afford? Pause: a lot of people are in that situation right now as a result of losing their job. You know if you are buying stuff to impress people and paying for it with your child's inheritance.
It is very important to teach children to be givers, otherwise you cannot be surprised when they always have their hand out begging to receive.
Think about it. Taking something that you have and likely have worked hard to get and handing it over to someone else, often someone you do not know, with nothing in return or even promised, makes no sense.
So if you don't raise children to be givers and not just takers, they will surely not come up with the idea all by themselves.
There are many ways to teach children to be givers:
1. tithes and offerings at church
2. putting money in the Salvation Army bucket during the holidays
3. visiting hospitals and nursing homes
4. doing helpful things for your neighbors
5. volunteering at a soup kitchen
6. taking the clothes and toys they have out grown to the thrift store
7. adopting a street and keeping it clean
8. helping to fold chairs or cleanup or plant flowers at their school
9. reading books to younger kids at the library or in the neighborhood
10. helping people to the car with their groceries
Teaching children to be givers is not all about dollar bills. Giving of time with nothing in return will instill the same lesson because what you are actually teaching them is to think about someone other than themselves.
So, what example are you setting that will teach your child to be a giver?
Remember, everything you do and say teaches. Be sure it's the lesson you want to pass the generations to come.
And now I would like to invite you to claim your FREE Instant Access to a 10-day e-course entitled "Ten Actions YOU MUST Take For Your Child To Succeed" when you visit http://empoweringyouthforsuccess.com/
You'll also receive free VIP seating at our cutting edge monthly teleseminar.
From Linette Daniels- "The Youth Success Doctor"
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