Encouraging the Gift of Giving

It's nearly Christmas, the children are getting excited, our bank balances are depleting rapidly and we are all too aware that rest, relaxation and summer fun are just around the corner.

One thing that is tricky to manage from a parenting perspective is how to support our children to enjoy Christmas for being more than just a time where they get lots of stuff. Presents are exciting and we all remember being a child, waking up on Christmas morning and being overawed by all the amazing new things. We wouldn't want to take that away from the children but what can we do along side all of that to allow our children to experience how amazing it feels to give to others and to enjoy the Christmas festivities in a way that's not just all about receiving.

This article is going to outline two simple strategies to help you achieve this. These are easy to implement, not too pricey and lots of fun for the whole family.

12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS ACTIVITY CALENDAR

Right so it's 12 days before Christmas everyone is getting very excited at this point but 12 days is still quite a lot of time and we need a bit of structure to our day to channel all this Christmas excitement. Enter the 12 days of Christmas Activity Calendar.

This is very simple to make... just a bit of string, 12 envelopes, some pegs, some wrapping paper and card. Depending on the age of your children, they can even help you make it! Just cut out the numbers 1 - 12 glue it on the envelopes, peg them on some string and St Nick's your Uncle, it's done! You can also reuse this for next year.

Next, do a bit of a family brainstorm to write some activities or challenges onto some little pieces of card and place them into the envelopes. The more input you get from the children the more engaged they will be in the whole process.

Try to encourage some acts of kindness or opportunities to give thanks in the envelopes. In our family we like to do 6 fun Christmas activities and then 6 acts of kindness. Why? To remind our children that we are part of a community and there are people in our community that may feel lonely or sad this time of year and/or there are people who are not as fortunate. It's a wonderful time of year to encourage kindness to others and nurture that Christmas Spirit.

Here are some ideas for activities and challenges to write on the cards... you will come up with plenty of your own of course.

Christmas Activities

• Write letters to Santa and post or email

• Make your own snow globes

• Make homemade Christmas decorations for the tree - look on Pinterest!

• Make homemade Christmas cards and send to family, teachers and friends

• Do Christmas baking... reindeer cupcakes are cute!

• Sew your Christmas stockings for pets or friends

• Do Christmas artwork using red, green and gold paint

• Make your own Christmas wreath using items from nature and a polystyrene ring from spotlight

• Sing Christmas carols, or learn how to play Christmas songs on instruments

• Put up the Christmas tree and decorate the house with Christmas cheer

• Stage your own Christmas photo shoot

Acts of Kindness

• Give homeless people a gift basket of things that are useful to them - clothing, sunscreen, sunhat

water, healthy food, blanket

• Write thank you cards for the people that help us in our community e.g. postie, rubbish collector, firemen, policemen, paramedics

• Donate books to people who don't have many

• Visit a retirement home and spread some Christmas cheer - donate a game for them to play or books for their library

• Visit elderly in your community that may not have family in town, give them a surprise card or gift

• Do odd jobs for people such as weeding or washing windows

• Choose some toys from home that don't get played with very often and donate these to children who don't have many toys

FAMILY SHOPPING EXCURSION

At some stage before Christmas go on a family shopping excursion. Split up into two teams, set a price

limit and then buy gifts for people on the other team. Try and let the children lead this excursion. Get them to think of the presents (but guide them a tad to make sure they are appropriate), then encourage them to wrap the gifts and write the cards. When they see their family members open the gift, they chose and wrapped, on Christmas Day it will make them feel all warm and tingly. This is the feeling we want to encourage - it's the gift of giving!! Pure magic.

I hope you found this article interesting. I'd love to hear what activities you do with your children in the lead up to Christmas to encourage the gift of giving! Share your ideas with the rest of us in the comments.

If you enjoyed this advice and you would like to get more amazing practical advice that makes parenting easier then visit www.parentinglittlelearners.com, I have advice packages for every budget! Or drop me a line on 021367837 for a free 15 minute phone call, I'd love to hear from you!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU AND YOUR FAMILY!

Kirsty xoxox

#parenting #christmas #giftofgiving #activities