All these recaps of last year pushed me to give you an update of some of my blog posts from last year..... Also, I've been wanting to revisit some of them with new statuses but am not savvy enough in blogging to post changes.
Bunks: We are all back to our own space. #1 in his own room and all 3 girls together. We disassembled #1's bunk bed into 2 single beds. We thought the illusion of the 2nd bed could double for the sofa request. No such luck. We're still looking for a solution for his room without being too and maintaining a creative flair. Each of the girls has gotten to personalize their bed with new linens, compliments of Grandma and Grandpa for Hanukkah. We're trying to accessorize to bring their choices together.
Sugar: We still have 1 gallon bags of "new" candy from Halloween in the freezer per child. #1 was motivated with M&Ms by his tutor and raw chocolate by his therapist. It's crazy how it makes his world go round and him so much more amenable. We have stopped allowing yogurt past after school snacks. With 20+ grams of sugar per serving, it was doing us a disservice. Now, fruit only after dinner. We still do donuts on Sundays before Sunday school. The go all sugared up, but then it's God's problem, right? The tough part is that Mom (I) am temporarily/possibly permanently gluten free. No donuts for me.
Schedules: We had #2 choose 2 of 3 seasonal sports to compliment the year-round taekwondo. Since she and her brother are within striking distance of their black belts, we wanted to focus only on it for a season. I am still torn with requests and interests of/by my children, friends and parents. Just today we were swayed into signing up for winter indoor soccer. My basic thought on this league is that it is expensive ($165-$190) for the short game only season. It's in small cramped gyms where it is hard to be a spectator. #3's dear friend and amazing coach pretty much begged and stalked us today to get us to sign up. Because we love her and him, we waffled and as soon as we can figure out how to get the late fee waived, will be signing up. Oh, the games are Sunday. Ugh, now we are paying for Sunday school and not going. Pfew, only 2 games have conflicts. Topic for the future is summer camp and camps in general....
Freedom: Not only did we let #1 go to practice twice a week with friends, but we are now having all 3 big kids come home by themselves 3+ times a week. The caveat is that #3 is always accompanied. #1 and #2 alternate who "has" to go with #3. We make sure in the morning that the wheels match up, meaning that if someone is on a bike, something similar in speed is with the partner. This plan has received concern based on situations in areas not our own. There have been abduction attempts near my folks, but I cannot let those deter my plan to give my kids some freedom. It is freedom that is not unplanned or unworried. There is no playing after school or on the way. I am home waiting 95% of the time. They do not have phones and can call from school before they head home if there is a problem. We have not had any problems. Future post is still going to be cell phones with kids.
Buckle up: #4 is now our only child in a booster seat. Funnily enough, when she is not in the car, #3 likes to sit in her booster. I guess it is always better when it is someone else's. #1 is now allowed to sit in the front seat for non-freeway trips. We've decided that the speed for these in town trips is low and the seatbelt isn't choking him.
Choices: Our same friends have had us over. Some others have asked us for help. Some Tuesdays I take 8 kids to school. Some other days, my neighbors take portions of my kids to school. We recently suspended our annual holiday party, but were able to pull-off a new year's chile-fest. Again, choices. #1 wants to go to sleep away, mucho expensive camp this summer. We are in conversations...no birthday party/present, etc... choices..
Health: A few runny noses, but no major illnesses. #1 is now taking vitamin D and all vitamins are self-serve on the table. #4 has to be monitored so she doesn't take too many, they're like candy to her. So, cod liver oil, sambucol (elderberry), vitamin D, a probiotic and enzyme are on the vitamin train. No flu shots and other than a suspected but negative case of whooping cough, we are healthy! We tried switching out gluten bread for non with a revolt. Now cinnamon bread is only for the weekends.....
Volunteering: Still a believer, still helping out in the class. On a bond oversight committee and working on neighborhood projects and saying no to everything else of the volunteer type.
Praise: I have been better, but not perfect. It's not easy to not react. It's not easy to connect without conflict. I keep trying to improve and communicate. It's all a mother can do, along with paying for therapy....
Gamey: No, Hanukkah did not warrant us an iPod touch for #3 or an x-box blah blah blah for #1. Boy have they been haranguing. I still don't see the benefit since we don't have time for the things we do have.
Charity: Same as before. Only cranky part was the in-class giving. Hanukkah was way early this year. We were done and gone with our in house part. 2 weeks later was the school portion. How crazy and time consuming. It all adds up. We ended up giving within the school to needy people we have never met, but couldn't give to people who have helped us throughout the year. We'll find a way for balance, somehow.
Piercing: I've heard we've inspired some friends to "let" their daughter get their ear pierced. Other friends have seen our place of choice and rejoiced. So far so good all of our recent piercings are healthy. We have slacked off on our cleaning regime. It's been a month, I feel like we're out of the danger zone. One more month to go and then we'll be hearing clamoring about more earrings. The girls are vying for some of my earrings. Uh-oh.
Planning: Oops, I forgot to look at the assignment packet that was given to #3 the week before break. Yikes, 3 big things due along with normal stuff, the first week back. Not a good mix with cranky kids who don't want to go back to school. We will find a way.
Showing posts with label charity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label charity. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Friday, November 19, 2010
sweet charity
How, what, when and where is charity taught?
Our school just had a book fair fundraiser that held a raffle. 2 of my kids won something. This made me think, does this teach them anything about charity? I really though of it more as gambling, but all the proceeds go to the school library, so isn't it charitable to support the library? The support is probably more effective than buying books that I could get for a fraction online. For some reason, in my mind, I think buying books and the school making money off of it is more charitable. The more I write about it, the more convoluted it seems. As the kids throw money at the raffle and deposit their tickets into the jar, I remind them that they could just be losing their money. But, since it's helping the library, it really isn't lost, is it?
When we remember to dole out allowance, 1/3 goes to savings, 1/3 wallet and 1/3 charity. The charity amount goes into tzedakah boxes the kids made at Sunday school. It accumulates until we decide as a family how we want to share it.
Last year our school did pennies for peace for Haiti. We had been collecting in out individual boxes at home for a while. This spurred the question in my mind if school should be promoting donations or not. What if we made different choices as a family? Would my kids be treated differently for not participating at school? Where was the button to wear saying "I gave at home"? What this did do was give us the opportunity to discuss with the kids the choices we have with charities. We explained that you did not have to give to the school program if you chose to do something different at home, or you could do both. Since everyone's tzedakah is separate, it enabled each kid to make their own decisions.
Everyone decided to go the home route. But, as the week wore on, some of the kids started to feel the tug towards the school charity option. #3 decided to not just take her pennies, but take her whole $47 and give it at school for pennies for peace. She was so proud, and we were proud of her. She felt good about her donation. She even got a letter of thanks from the principal. I can't help wondering if her positive feelings were more about competition, in beating out the amount of most other students? Is this okay? It's still charity right?
#1 chose to give his money to a wildlife foundation. He's always had a soft spot for nature. For his gracious donation, he was to receive stickers, magazines and a stuffed animal. This managed to put him on the mailing list for every "ask" this company made. He did get address labels and magazines, but didn't get the stuffie. Months later, I got around to calling and he finally got the little leopard or jaguar or whatever it was. Is giving about receiving stuff in return?
#2 went the home route and we chose a charity together.
The kids all bring a little bit to Sunday school each week for class tzedakah. I guess I expect it there, more than I would in regular school. The schools feel it needs to be reinforced there because not everyone does it at home and it is an important lesson to learn. I am not against charity, and am conflicted on how I feel about it in the school setting.
I think the messages get confusing since so much other asking happens at school. Unfortunately, schools need donations too. How does on differentiate the needs of art foundations, school PTAs, the garden, scouting, community needs and the needy people in our area and far away? Bring a toy, book, money, jacket, school supplies and so on. What if we are struggling in our own life? What if we are not struggling, but make other choices. Should we feel judged? Are people judging us? Do you judge others? I honestly can say I judge others, but not about charity.
So, giving is important. The context should be set at home. Kids that exhibit charitable actions melt my heart.
Our school just had a book fair fundraiser that held a raffle. 2 of my kids won something. This made me think, does this teach them anything about charity? I really though of it more as gambling, but all the proceeds go to the school library, so isn't it charitable to support the library? The support is probably more effective than buying books that I could get for a fraction online. For some reason, in my mind, I think buying books and the school making money off of it is more charitable. The more I write about it, the more convoluted it seems. As the kids throw money at the raffle and deposit their tickets into the jar, I remind them that they could just be losing their money. But, since it's helping the library, it really isn't lost, is it?
When we remember to dole out allowance, 1/3 goes to savings, 1/3 wallet and 1/3 charity. The charity amount goes into tzedakah boxes the kids made at Sunday school. It accumulates until we decide as a family how we want to share it.
Last year our school did pennies for peace for Haiti. We had been collecting in out individual boxes at home for a while. This spurred the question in my mind if school should be promoting donations or not. What if we made different choices as a family? Would my kids be treated differently for not participating at school? Where was the button to wear saying "I gave at home"? What this did do was give us the opportunity to discuss with the kids the choices we have with charities. We explained that you did not have to give to the school program if you chose to do something different at home, or you could do both. Since everyone's tzedakah is separate, it enabled each kid to make their own decisions.
Everyone decided to go the home route. But, as the week wore on, some of the kids started to feel the tug towards the school charity option. #3 decided to not just take her pennies, but take her whole $47 and give it at school for pennies for peace. She was so proud, and we were proud of her. She felt good about her donation. She even got a letter of thanks from the principal. I can't help wondering if her positive feelings were more about competition, in beating out the amount of most other students? Is this okay? It's still charity right?
#1 chose to give his money to a wildlife foundation. He's always had a soft spot for nature. For his gracious donation, he was to receive stickers, magazines and a stuffed animal. This managed to put him on the mailing list for every "ask" this company made. He did get address labels and magazines, but didn't get the stuffie. Months later, I got around to calling and he finally got the little leopard or jaguar or whatever it was. Is giving about receiving stuff in return?
#2 went the home route and we chose a charity together.
The kids all bring a little bit to Sunday school each week for class tzedakah. I guess I expect it there, more than I would in regular school. The schools feel it needs to be reinforced there because not everyone does it at home and it is an important lesson to learn. I am not against charity, and am conflicted on how I feel about it in the school setting.
I think the messages get confusing since so much other asking happens at school. Unfortunately, schools need donations too. How does on differentiate the needs of art foundations, school PTAs, the garden, scouting, community needs and the needy people in our area and far away? Bring a toy, book, money, jacket, school supplies and so on. What if we are struggling in our own life? What if we are not struggling, but make other choices. Should we feel judged? Are people judging us? Do you judge others? I honestly can say I judge others, but not about charity.
So, giving is important. The context should be set at home. Kids that exhibit charitable actions melt my heart.
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