Ok….I have been reading books of course since I am home and can’t sleep at night.   This will not be a post about the “real” meaning of Christmas, but about how do we instill morals in our children???   Yes, you guessed it  I a reading a book with a section about teaching morals.   Ok…I have had conversation with Erik about giving since my hubby got mad at him about some of his attitude about his wish list.  I think it is normal kid stuff in my opinion, but that is another post.   Ok…so Erik really seemed to get it and gave presents to many, etc.  Bought them with his own money, etc.   I think that part is  important at Erik’s age, if I gave him the money of course he would buy gifts for others.  I would too if someone else gave me their money.  I would rather spend someone elses money too and get the thanks for the gift.  

Now I want to start having Tommy pick out gift for his immediate family next year.  I don’t give him money so I have been pondering how will I have him buy gifts with his money.   I am not sure if matters since he does’t really have a concept of money and ownership yet.   I tossed around the idea of doing a few little chores with him to earn his shopping money.    He knows all about chores!  So what do you think??   How would you handle it with a 4 year old??   Does it really matter if it is his money or not??   Could I give him a dollar for each person on his list and set him loose in the dollar store like I did Erik? 

Ok…now for the other thing that I have tried to instill in my kids is church offerings.   My hubby and I believe in and do faithfully donate every week.  Tommy will be in the actually Sunday school program next year and I want to start the idea of offering right away.   We tired with Erik, but he didn’t understand it…he would cry or get mad if he had to give his money so I would put money in the envelope for him.  Sometimes he would keep the money.   I want to start this right with Tommy for the first moment.   I thought of giving him 10 nickels a week and say…some for Tommy…some for God.   It is his money but the expectation would be inherent to give.   How did you introduce your child to tithing???  I am really interested in hearing how you handled this with your small childen.   I do not want to handle it with Tommy how we did with Erik.  Or when children are that young do you jsut give them the money and they learn from the example of giving not so much that they are giving their money??  Because I really don’t think that at age 4 I would want to give Tommy an allowance in the first place.    he doesn’t understand money in the first place.  

    I think we have done ok with teaching our children about charity.  We try to participate in the diffierent programs at church to adopt a family, buy local children school supplies, etc.   That is a family project  though….and part of our family budget. 

I do plan on reading more about the subject from various places and discuss with my church small group and hubby.   Your ideas and suggests are greatly appreciated.