Today we went on an adventure to Price Busters. No, this wasn't just me dragging my kids along as I ran my errands, it was an intentional outing. A few weeks ago I got excited about Operation Christmas Child (OCC) as a way to help my children experience the true meaning of Christmas, learn about giving, help them think about the less fortunate, and all that important stuff.
I don't know about you, but I have found it challenging to find ways to engage my children in service projects that are meaningful to them. Many hands-on projects just aren't suited to toddlers and preschoolers and financial contributions are too abstract for them to really understand.
Doing the OCC project with my kids turned out even better than I expected. Granted, my girl is too little to have a clue about any of it, but my boy really got into it! I told him we were going to pack one box for a boy his age and one for a girl his sister's age. That was key. It put a face on this project in a way and made it something he could really relate to.
When we got to Price Busters he was ready to go! He was full of ideas and suggestions of what we should buy and I was the one following him through the store much of the time. I offered some guidance here and there, "We have enough toys, now we need some craft supplies" and things like that, but I figure he knows better than I do what a 4 year old boy would like and so I followed his lead on a lot of things and left many of the final decisions up to him.
Here is what we ended up with to send to a boy:
When we got home my boy continued to be interested in the project and he helped get everything wrapped and ready to put into the shoe boxes.
Unfortunately we got a little too enthusiastic in our shopping and our stuff won't fit into the boxes we had. I think we're going to have to upgrade to bigger shoe boxes and maybe leave out a couple of items.
Operation Christmas Child is definitely going to be a yearly tradition for our family. Kids helping kids, what better way to teach my children about service?!
Not only was my boy excited about buying new things for another child, but when we finished this project he said he was going to go through his room and find stuff to give away to kids who don't have as much. Before I knew it he had a big pile in the living room. I got him to keep his trash can and told him he had to keep his fan, but there are still a number of things he wants to give away. OCC requires that all items in the shoe boxes be new, so I need to find another charity to donate these gently used items to. I'd like something more specific/personal than Goodwill or Salvation Army. Any suggestions?
More Info/Do it Yourself:
What is Operation Christmas Child?
OCC is a project that distributes shoe boxes filled with gifts to children facing hardships, primarily in developing countries. It is coordinated by an organization called Samaritan's Purse. OCC lets you specify the gender and age range of the child you have packed a box for.
If you want to get involved with this project there's still time but you have to act right away! Filled shoe boxes are being collected now through the 23rd (Monday!). Sorry for the late notice, I'll try to give more of a heads-up next year.
Head to the official website for Operation Christmas Child for more information including guidelines for what to pack in your box, drop-off locations, and the chance to pay for shipping online so that you can find out what country your box gets sent to.
2 Comments:
We might just do this! Thanks for sharing.
That is awesome! The boys have been doing this with their school for years now. The 1st couple of years I had to do more then 2 boxes cause I bought way too much stuff!
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