Teaching very young children the value of a dollar, along with the fulfillment and joy of charitable giving, has been an ongoing effort for me.

The New Year brought us an avalanche of resolutions, including actual implementation of this nagging idea. Though we opted against giving the girls an allowance, they both tend to have plenty of birthday and holiday money appearing in greeting cards to help illustrate our point.

I found six canning jars and labeled them each either Save, Spend, or Share. Then I had a long talk with the girls about how to divvy up their cash.

The recent gift-giving season perfectly illustrated the fact that we don’t need to spend all of our money on ourselves. We have enough, and then some. Miss Kindergarten couldn’t even come up with an item to save for, so she ultimately left her Save jar empty.

Her little sister covets the zhu zhu pet accessories, so we tagged her jar accordingly, and in went a few dollars.

Neither girl put much in the spend jar. Miss Kindergarten sweetly said, “You and dad buy me what I need, so I don’t need any to spend.” Her little sister followed her lead.  Aaah, what trust; or how very young they are!

The Share jars were fed most generously. Miss Kindergarten tagged all of hers for the homeless shelter that we sponsored during the holidays, though she later raided it for a leukemia fundraiser at school.

Little Miss Three, without hesitation, wanted all of her Share money to go to our local food shelf. Not surprising, since she is my little partner whenever we have goodies to drop off.

In the past weeks, we have added to the jars whenever us adults have spare change to share. Invariably, extra coins are shared, though Little Miss Three just about has enough for a zhu zhu car so her focus is shifting a bit.

This exercise seems to be working well, teaching them both about money and about charity.

Have you tried anything similar or better? Share your story!

Tags: Big Ideas, Charitable Giving

About Sarah

Sarah Aadland is striving to make family volunteering a meaningful habit for her family of five. Join the conversation as she ponders what they may (or may not have) learned and looks for helpful information about raising compassionate kids.Though she plans to one day put her Masters in Public Policy back to work for social justice, she sees family volunteering as a way to build a stronger community, a better world, and a more connected family. In addition to her children, Sarah tends a large garden, a small flock of chickens, and a habit of mindfulness amid the necessary rituals of parenting.

View all posts by Sarah