Tragedy Should Be A Teaching Moment

I live in North Carolina. Newbern and a few other communities are underwater and need help. This site made a contribution and  I also did from my personal funds. I then turned to my children and asked them what they they thought they should do.

My youngest is six and doesn’t fully understand money. Her answer was “ten”. I reminded her that her allowance was $1.50 or six quarters and she said, “oh, give them 2”. It took some time to figure out that she meant 1/3rd of her weekly income.

When I brought in my oldest in (9 next month) he looked at me, thought for a second and said, give them my whole allowance, I don’t need it – my eyes watered. That is the lesson I hoped to teach him, but he already knew. We give what we do not need when someone else demonstrates a need.

I had made the cash contributions before my conversation with my son, now, we will be doing even more. Tonight and tomorrow, the whole family will be digging through clothes, tools and toys that we don’t need. Those will get boxed-up and delivered to those that can use them.

We, as parents, are examples for our children. Every once-in-awhile, our children are examples for us.