TEACHING KIDS ABOUT GIVING

             Do you remember how you learned about giving at church? Was it when the giving plate was passed along the pew you were sitting in? I don’t know about you, but I remember sitting with my grandmother at church, and seeing her reach in her purse for money that she had specifically put in there to put in the offering plate when it was passed to her. As I grew up and went to Sunday School my parents would send my brother and me with change for the Sunday School offering. As I grew older and went to church on my own and then with my husband, we used offering envelopes to help track our weekly giving to the church.

            How do we teach kids now about giving? Prior to the pandemic, some people had started giving electronically and weren’t putting offerings in the plate. I know there were some months, when I was ushering at my home church, that people would just shake their head or wave their hand, indicating not to pass them the plate. What does this behavior show kids or others who are wondering about giving? Of course, for many churches, the children are excused to Sunday School, Children’s church or child care before the offering is even taken, so they don’t even hear it announced, much less see it.

 

            Who are good role models for children? Parents, of course, and us. In my stewardship work, I have purchased a Moon Jar and a piggy bank that were both designed to help children learn about setting money aside for giving. Moon Jars are divided into three boxes: Give, Save and Spend.

            The piggy bank has four separate slots, one for Donate, one for Save, one for Spend and one for Invest.

            Each of these are a good way to talk about money and help to set money aside for specific purposes, including donations.

            Other ways to talk about money is to have conversations during Sunday School, share and read stories about generosity and giving, and there are always the stories in the Bible and in the family.

            Be intentional when talking about money and generosity, whether you’re talking to adults or to children.  Just as each of us should have a health relationship with money, so should children. We must be stewards or money rather than being controlled by it.