Last updated on September 30th, 2021 at 10:11 am
One day around the holidays, my twins and I walked into our gym and they pointed out a big box wrapped in wrapping paper for Toys for Tots. They had no idea what it was so I started to explain what it was for and I realized that, while I had always been compassionate for others, I never really involved my twins in doing so. Growing up I had always been involved one way or another in paying it forward to people who are less fortunate. How could I pass on what I have learned over the years and have my 5 year olds understand it? How honest would I have to be? I am fairly honest with my kids when it comes to a lot of things so I knew it was best to be truthful. There are people who aren’t as fortunate as we are. My family might not have a lot but we try our best to help people who need some kind of help.
Social media has really opened my eyes to the generosity of people. Over the holiday season I saw a post of a little girl who wanted to fill her card tree with holiday cards, and I knew this was going to be the start of teaching my twins about giving. I led them over to my computer and I read the post that was shared by the little girl’s family member and explained her backstory. I asked my twins if it would be nice to help her fill her tree? They both had replied yes, so we hopped in the car and went to the store and bought a Christmas card. As we were checking out I was asked, “Do you think she would want a picture to hang up too? I think we should color a picture to put in, I would love a picture in the mail too.” So we went home, they colored pictures, and we had sent them off. I showed my girls the updates on the little girl’s project, which at that point were all over the news, and they were excited to know they helped.
Now that the holidays are over I needed a new way to think of how we could do more. I asked if they wanted to do one nice thing for a different person each month: a random act of kindness (RAK). That is our goal for 2016, we are going to do at least one nice thing for one person each month. Here are some of the ideas that we came up with to give back.
Closet Purge
We went through their closet and pulled out clothing that didn’t fit them anymore and donated them. Normally, I will try to resell the extra clothes, to counter the cost of new clothes, but we donated them to an organization that helps families directly.
Making Pillow Cases
We made pillow cases for children in the hospital. Sadly, we have seen our share of childhood cancer with my friends’ children and I have done this is in the past, but this time I had my girls help me. They each got to pick out some fabric that they thought kids would like, they helped measure, and helped wrap up the gifts when they were done. I know not all hospitals will take these donations unless they are donated a certain way, through organizations. We have either directly sent them to someone we know personally, or to friends who work at hospitals and are able to get them to patients directly.
Organize a Meal Train
Our next project is to help with a meal train. I am blessed to know people who organize these all year round. I told my girls they can help me pick out, cook, and deliver the meal. These are just a few ideas that we have come up with, but we will be coming up with more.
The reason why I want my twins to understand and know compassion is because of the impact that it has made on the person in need from these small gestures. I don’t do it to make myself look good on social media (in fact, I hardly post when we do things like this), but I do it to put a smile on someone’s face. It makes a sad time a little brighter. I see the size of my twins’ hearts when they play with older and younger kids and they try to include everyone. I see them share. I see them growing up. And every day I hope that my husband and I are doing a good job at raising our girls to be good people. I try to make everything we do a lesson. I explain why we do things the way we do them. I hope this inspires you to do a special project with your twins just to put a smile on someone’s face, for no reason at all except to make someone happy.
Other ways you can teach your children to give back:
- Having children choose new toys to donate to Toys for Tots.
- Having children choose food while you are grocery shopping to donate to food banks, not just during the holidays, but year round.
- If you have an elderly neighbor who lives alone, your children could possibly bring them in their mail or newspaper on cold days or walk their dog.
- They can make and send cards to those in the military.
- Children with long hair can donate their hair to such charities as Children With Hair Loss that make free wigs for children with medically related hair loss.
Robyn is currently a stay at home mom to her 4 year old fraternal twin daughters, Kayden and Kaylee, and wife to her husband, Roy. She is currently pursuing her career in the medical field. Click here to read more of Robyn’s articles on Twiniversity.* * *
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