Children are inherently greedy creatures. At birth, that’s okay – baby’s needs are great, and any extra to give is almost non-existent. They eat, they sleep, they cry, they grow (and in mine’s case, that sleep part is merely a parental mirage). But by the time they become adults, we hope that they have the resources and the capacity to give. Give of their time, and of their energy, and of their resources.

We haven’t started an allowance yet, with our kids at ages 8 and 5. In my opinion, the kids don’t need excuses to spend money yet, they receive enough gift money and I’m more a believer in strengthening their resolve to not spend money when they have a case of the gimmes. Also, they haven’t shown us the executive functioning skills to do any chores without being hounded, which as we’ve told them for several years now is a minimum requirement for an allowance in my book. (Don’t get me wrong, they’re still expected to help around the house, there just isn’t a monetary reward attached to it.)

Without that money to spare, and that visceral attachment to money, that also means we don’t have them practice monetary giving. Yet.

But what we do do, and have done with them since birth, is volunteer.

More “formal” volunteering seems to need to wait until they’re older. For instance, even our local food shelf requires “family day” children participants to be at least in kindergarten. Instead, since we haven’t been successful on the formal front, we’ve sought out and been successful on the informal front.

One of our most successful volunteer activities with the kids is volunteering for our local non-competitive science fair. It’s a family-friendly event, and that helps a lot with being able to volunteer with kids in tow. We were able to find ways to volunteer with them while they were still in carry packs to be around large crowds, while they were preschoolers, and now as they’re school aged.

We’ll be involved in many steps, from start to finish. That’s what happens when mama has been involved in the organization since before the kiddos were born, they grow up with participation and volunteering in it as a part of their annual rhythm. In our household, ~February means science fair packet stuffing, reviewing, tear down, and the after party with lots of fun volunteer-minded, sciencey people. This year we’ll likely have a young scientist participating in the event in addition to volunteering. Way back before the science fair itself, we may have created a t-shirt design, or been part of an educational workshop.

Being a whitewater kayak instructor, I volunteer at educational events with Northeast Wisconsin Paddlers (NEWP) and Gardner Dam Scout Camp. I haven’t figured out how to get my kiddos involved there much, yet. Instead, when, as the president of the regional whitewater slalom group, I’m attending kayak/canoe races, we make those whole-family affairs whenever schedules permit. Then the kids find ways to be involved, from helping move gear around, to bringing water or snacks to volunteers who are stuck on-site, to hauling around gate poles/header bars/gate numbers at tear-down.

Another favorite of mine is helping friends, family, and colleagues move. It’s great exercise, many hands make light work, we make such great visible progress on a problem, people are SO THANKFUL for the help, and kids make excellent carriers of pillows and couch cushions. They see a house empty, and a house fill, and they were part of it. They also are often then part of the reward of a pizza party afterwards, socializing with those they helped. Most recently we helped one of my brothers-in-law move, and since it was for a cousin they also “helped” the cousin play with their toys and helped clean out a space among the mess for cousin to sleep in that night when there wasn’t a bed constructed yet.

And then of course there’s yard chores. We go to the grandparents to help with all of their yard chores, especially right before the fall edition of their semi-annual brush / yard waste pick-up. They’re cleaning up some rural acreage, so they always have loads of brush and leaves come fall that need to make it from the depths of the property to the road frontage. The kids haul sticks, and rake leaves, with the reward of having helped thankful grandparents, leaf piles to jump in, and maybe a mug of hot homemade apple cider. They get to see three generations working together, across multiple branches of the family (my brother usually tries to coordinate bringing his family too, and it’s wonderful to see his toddler drag a stick that’s as long as he is tall), cheerfully helping eachother. We’re showing them what normal looks like in our moral code, and I love it.

How are you teaching generosity? How are you modeling generosity? Do you do it with money? With your time? With your positive energy? With your muscles? Do you do it for strangers? For those closest to you? Whatever it is, thank you for teaching the next generation to care for those around them.