One of our triplet daughters, when was around four years old one day was taken out for a stroll by my father who is now a retired person. He visited a local store owned by a family friend. On noticing the arrival of a kid the store owner was generous enough to offer her a chocolate bar.

She refused to have it but when my father asked her to have it, she insisted to have two more so that she can carry for her sisters back home. Shopkeeper uncle was much impressed and happy to see this, he immediately offered her three more bars which included one extra as a prize for her for the attitude of sharing.

“You can only have more for yourself by giving it away to others” —Brian Tracy.

My father was so glad to witness this small incident, for many days he narrated this story with full pride to all his friends.

Life’s first lesson of kid

Generally the very first lesson of life the kid get from his parents and surrounding is the importance of “me and mine”. Though important to survive and undeniable, we should not forget to teach them the another important lesson of sharing.

Being triplets our kids are fortunate to develop the habit of sharing since they were very young. There are many incidents where I noticed them being comfortable sharing their belongings with not only with each other but with their visitors and guests.

Whenever other kids used to visit our house they never had the problem of sharing their toys or eatables. Rather many times I was offended when without asking me they offered their brand new toys to the guest kids and school friends.

I believe the strong reason behind this behaviour was their day to day observations. They are quite used to distributing almost everything in three equal parts for them and this habit of sharing was induced into them quite naturally.

Though I try to be impartial and give them equal share but sometimes when I get partial, they never miss the opportunity to correct me by ensuring that the other two also get equal share.

Sharing means loving

Love only grows by sharing. It is very important for kids to practice sharing with others quite early. Sharing and serving others are the best source of happiness and fulfillment for human beings. Sharing is a blessing which saves us from from the awful self obsession in the all stages of our life.

The ultimate truth has been unfolded by philosophers, scholars and spiritual gurus that happiness is not about having a lot rather its about giving a lot. The best feeling of happiness is when you’ve made someone happy.

In the above story when my daughter reached home and shared the bars with her two sisters, her happiness was way ahead as compared to the happiness of other two at receiving end.

“Nothing else in all life is such a maker of joy and cheer as the privilege of doing good.” — James Russell

Provide direction

It is the responsibility of parents to set example in front of kids as they are deaf to our words but sharp enough to observe us. It pleases us when we see them giving and it pains us when we see them turning selfish. It’s true that we make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. Humanity is about helping others and practicing equality and self control by sharing the things we love. It’s thrilling and exhilarating.

These small experiences of our children will not only make them happy but also make them contented as they grow old. The generous living does not come naturally to us.

Don’t worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you. – Robert Fulghum

Setting their giving standards

Children have no liabilities as such, cause we fulfill all their needs as parents so we need to set some standards in front of them. In this endeavour we created a norm, whenever they receive gifts or money from someone on birthdays or any other occasions, or it could be their earning prize money for some chores or scoring well. The money is divided into three equal parts one part is for saving, second for spending and a third for giving.

They set aside one third and put it in their “giving” box. And by giving a third of their money to the needy is as important as saving and spending. It will give them a bigger vision for their giving at a very young age, our children quickly learn the feeling of giving away an amount that really matters to them.

Other things you can do to help your children acquire the habit of charity is encouraging them to periodically go through their closets and rooting out clothes they haven’t worn in a while and which can be given for distribution to the needy.

Make birthdays charitable, delivering food baskets around the holidays and give to a needy institutes. And also allowing them to spend some time with the recipients of the gifts. Attending blood donation camps and helping neighbors, donations in temple or church can be included. It’s important to make giving real to our children and the best strategy is get them involved.

Giving gracefully without any showoff is important. Children must understand that giving should be unconditional and it brings purpose to their life. Sharing their blessings to reflect all the good they have found in the world is the way they can make the world a better place to live.

The last significant point which can’t be ignored is, we wish to teach our children to be generous by sharing and helping others, but it doesn’t mean that they should give away their things at a cost which can upset them. Giving is fine unless it is done in way that it does not harm them.