As you know, if you’ve been reading, for quite some time, I’ve occasionally been running little installments called “Mama’s K.I.S.S.” I know that lots of readers could give many more and far more creative ideas than I can offer, but these installments are just a few tried and true and mostly old-fashioned ideas for putting service hearts in our kids. This is number 67 of a list of one hundred ways we train our kids to serve. K.I.S.S. is an acronym for “Kids In Service Suggestions”.
This one might be something you routinely do, but the “giving” involved is great and it’s mostly the gift of generosity growing in little hearts in your home.
Have a specific church or community need in mind. Examples might be a missionary who needs a little stack of Bibles, a family who is staying away from home to care for a child who is hospitalized, a foster mom who is needing clothing, or an elderly widow who could use a ramp to her back door.
The idea here is that your child has something that is of value. It can be of small value, but it is something the child really does like and enjoy. Encourage the child to find something to donate to the cause chosen. She can donate the actual item or she can sell the items on marketplace or ebay, so that she can donate the funding to the worthy project. For examples above:
The child may find a good used Bible, take it to the missionary who is visiting your congregation and say “Could some child in Booneville, Missouri (that’s our mission town) use this Bible?”
The child might sell a portion of his Pokemon cards or baseball cards and give a little McDonald’s gift card to the family who is hospital sitting.
The child may actually go through her closet and find good clothing to donate to the foster mom,
The child may make a lemonade stand or a small yard sale and donate the funding to buy wood for her dad who is helping to build the widow’s ramp.
Our grand-daughter has expertise in this. She absolutely loves to donate good, but superfluous, toys. Her mom helps her sell them on Marketplace and she takes the monies in her own envelope to donate to the missionary or the storm victims.
It’s a life lesson that grows larger with time and practice.
