Top 10 Stories of 2012 Countdown Story #9 A Spontaneous Opportunity To Teach My Children About Generosity [1]

Help Others. org --posted by Earthymom33 on Dec 23, 2012

My kids and I were heading into the superstore over the weekend. On the way, we spotted a man wrapped in a blanket and holding a sign that said, "Lost my job. Family to Feed".

At this store, a sight like this is not a normal occurrence. It was obvious the man was embarrassed, but desperate. My 10-year-old noticed him commented on how bad it must be to have to stand outside in the cold wind.

While we were in the store, I asked each of the kids (I have seven :) to pick something they thought our 'friend' outside would appreciate. They picked a couple apples, a package of shrimp cocktail, a sandwich, some cheese and a bottle of juice.

Then my 17-year-old asked, "Can we get him a gift card?"

I thought about it. We were low on cash ourselves, but... well, sometimes giving from our 'need' instead of our 'abundance' is just what we need to do!

We talked about the fact that we might have to do away with some of the things we were going to buy if we bought a gift card. All the kids piped in.

"That's ok!"

"I'll eat oatmeal all this week!"

To read the rest of this story visit Help Others.org [2]