“Help your children learn the difference between a need and a want. Help them do an inventory of what they already have and things they’d like to get some day. By each item put an “N” or “W” to distinguish between “Needs” and “Wants.”
Without a purchasing plan we all tend to mindlessly shop and splurge, which does to our spiritual health what grazing on snack food all day does to our physical health. Teach them to make a list of what they want when they go shopping and talk about learning to resist randomly buying things…”
Kathy Haueisen in “Will Our Children Be Generous?” issue of Giving: Growing Joyful Stewards in Your Congregation, Vol. 15 (Blaine: ESC, 2014) 24-25.
I am safely home now. Thanks for your prayers for me for my recent trip to Seoul. It was fruitful beyond imagination! I share this post today because my students wanted practical ideas for teaching others how to live simply so we can give generously and this was one that we discussed for kids (cf. Proverbs 22:6).
Along with summer activities such as VBS, making lemonade, and playing in the park, perhaps try Haueisen’s activity with your children (or grandchildren). Help them learn the difference between “Needs” and “Wants.” It might shape the rest of their lives and contribute to their lifelong spiritual (and financial) health!