The mad rush to buy holiday presents has begun. We have been getting bombarded with emails and commercials about Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Stop. Take a mindful deep breath. There is more to the holiday season than shopping, spending, and stressing.
What is Giving Tuesday?
Today is about giving. Giving Tuesday is a global day for sending charitable donations to organizations of your choice. This social media campaign was initiated in 2012 by the cultural center 92nd Street Y in New York City in partnership with the United Nations Foundation. Tens of thousands of nonprofits, businesses, civic organizations, and individuals from nearly 70 countries come together to make real change happen in their communities and around the world.
It is so wonderful that this special day has been created for charitable donations. Giving Tuesday is responsible for increasing online donations by 470 percent!
How to Celebrate as a Family
As parents, we can use this opportunity to teach our children about the importance of giving and helping others. Here are some ways your family can celebrate Giving Tuesday today:
- Find a few minutes during the ride home from school or at dinner to ask your children who they would like to help. Provide some options like babies, animals, people without homes, children who do not have families, students who need books, or the elderly. Brainstorm some places where you can send a donation to tonight before bedtime. Let them send the actual donation online so that they can experience the act of giving firsthand. Finally, if children have been collecting coins in a piggy bank, they will enjoy handing over some change for you to give-more ceremonious than anything.
- Use this as a time for your children to start a collection for next year. You can purchase some really great tools like the Moonjar. It is a three-part piggy bank that has separate sections for spending, sharing, and saving. Ask them to set goals about how much they would like to give next year and who they want to help. Check in weekly or monthly throughout the year to see how close they are to reaching their goal.
- Explore educational resources to teach your children about generosity. Generation Giving offers several lesson plans that you can work on with your children.
Giving Tuesday is such an exciting way to kick off Happy Science Mom’s month of giving. We will be talking about the health benefits of volunteering, fun ways to do charitable work as a family, and fabulous resources to guide you in your good deeds.
I look forward to hearing about how you celebrate Giving Tuesday with your children. Please share your stories with us.
[…] Instill a sense of responsibility by encouraging your kids to put one-third of their allowance money in the Giving Box. You can read more about this here. […]