Thanksgiving is a wonderful time to step back and look at the many blessings in our lives as we give thanks. It is also a wonderful time to think about how we, too, can be a blessing in the lives of others. Fostering this approach of being a blessing for others is a way to help our children connect faith and service. Helping to serve a meal at a homeless shelter on Thanksgiving Day, or making handmade cards and delivering them to shut-ins can have a profound effect on children. Discussions beforehand and afterwards can help children reflect on their experience and on how God is involved.
An excellent article with many concrete examples is How to Raise Kids Who Care – Teach Your Children Well, and Chances Are They’ll Make Service A Way of Life. Knowing that there are people who live differently than them can have a huge impact on kids. As the author, Christina Zaker notes in one example, “Even complaints about having to share a bedroom disappeared after one family visited a family shelter and saw how entire families lived in a single bedroom.” Books on how to foster an attitude of giving can also be found in ActiveParishioner.com’s Parenting/Families section.
When I was growing up I remember that every Christmas my Mom would wrap small packages of candy for children who were poor. I would help her and then we would drop them off at our parish for them to distribute. This was many years before the concept of “giving trees” with name tags became popular. As a young child I wasn’t that motivated to help because I couldn’t understand who would want candy as a Christmas gift, when it was readily available at home. I had a hard time grasping what it meant that there were children my age living in poverty. But the example of my parents giving to others in so many ways somehow touched something deep within me. This approach to life is now something that I very much want to pass on to our son.
In this busy holiday season as Halloween, Thanksgiving, Advent and Christmas all get bunched up and seem to turn into non-stop motion, let’s pause and reflect on our blessings as we give thanks. Take a moment to talk with your kids about how each member of your family is so blessed. Then reflect together on how all of you as a family can also bring blessings to the lives of others.
From the staff of ActiveParishioner.com, may you and your loved ones have a blessed Thanksgiving!
Posted by APWeb 
