Making service and giving easier for the under 5s

Holiday time is often the time we remember service and giving activities. Maybe it is the thought of all the incoming gifts into our full homes or the awareness of those who have little or are going without.

Overburdening our children with adult issues is something we’ve really struggled with as a family to come to some sort of agreement on what to talk about with service and charitable giving. So we’re not overburdening them.  We’ve enjoyed new iniatives like working with ONE.org.

We want them to be world aware but the news is often inappropriate for the under 5s or young children to understand without lots of talk.So MaryAnn’s question in our cross blog conversation really made me stop, think and begin to do more than see this as a problem.

How can we use charitable opportunities to encourage global understanding?

Here are four ways you can ease into charitable opportunities, servicing and giving activities with your under 5s with a global perspective

Acts of service

1. Start with acts of service to each other in the home and to friends and neighbours.
2. Bake cookies or make a crafty gift for a holiday and deliver as a regular annual event
3. Collect those envelopes and bags that come through the door asking for clothing, money and before we decide what to do with them, talk or mention them. Some ideas like collecting clothes might be something your under 5 could work on with you to complete.

Transform search to mean something more

1. As children transition online and use search , use a search engine that gives something to a charity of you choose.
2. Searching via goodsearch.com. 50% of revenues go to the charities you’ve decided.
3. Chance to choose a charity and see on your dashboard how much you raise just by searching.
4. As we search with them and when they ask- use the toolbar and search and mention.

Spend save give

1. Set up a system of spend, save and give of the monies they receive or earn at home.
2. Lots of really good piggy banks that support this system
3. Give category is good for offerings and church contributions and/or charity ideas.

Subscribe to a magazine

Earlier I mentioned how uncomfortable we’ve felt as a family with some sharing service and giving opportunities.  We’ve made some moves. But we could be better. One new way we going to trial is a new magazine. All three boys are curious and big readers. Time for Kids magazine will likely start conversations about the pictures and those who are reading will likely read the articles especially as they are from kid reporters. Bringing global locally into our homes will give the chance to talk more than a soundbite about things as they come up.

Cross blog conversation

I’m having a cross blog conversation with Mama Smiles about bringing global local to our homes without going anywhere. Plus integrating global ideas into our everyday interactions without it being a festival or special day.

A cross blog conversation involves two or more bloggers engaged in a back-and-forth dialogue across a series of blog posts. The goal is to ask – and answer – thought-provoking questions in order to share useful information with our readers.

Our first question: What global games do you play or have influenced you?    My response :: Mama Smiles

Our Second question:  How do you use maps in your home? My response:: Mama Smiles

Our Third question: How can we use charitable opportunities to encourage global understanding?  My response:: Mama Smiles

Come back and tell us How do you make service and giving tangible to the under 5s?. In the meantime, pop on over to Mama Smiles where MaryAnne will answer the question: How can we use charitable opportunities to encourage global understanding?