A 5 Year Old's Extra Special Birthday Kindness

--by Puppatina, posted Dec 2, 2010

My wonderful grand daughter just turned five. We always have a party for her with all of our friends and family. I am often a little embarrassed by all the riches received by her. I thought that this year, with her parents blessing, we could do something different.

A nearby elementary school was devastated by fire over the summer and lost nineteen classrooms and the library. I thought we could use this birthday to create an opportunity for Lily, even at the young age of five, to understand service to others.

The day before her party we drove to the school and took her on a tour of the devastation. Since Lily has been attending nursery she understood the concept of school and seeing the burned buildings helped her understand why we wanted to help.

We asked the party-goers to bring donations of books for the school instead of a present. Of course people still brought Lily gifts (isn’t that always the way?) but she also collected three boxes of books for the library.

It was her first building block towards what I hope will be a life filled with service and I hope it has a lifelong effect on her.

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Posted by Puppatina
Dec 2, 2010
Comments (22)

Readers Comments

unknown wrote: You are a wonderful grandmom ! thank you and happy birthday to Lily :)

1golddragonfly wrote: What a great gift! Everyone was able to participate, help others and feel great about it all. Super idea! Happy Birthday to Lily.

MakeSomeoneSmile wrote: Bless you for teaching such kindness to the little ones. It gives us all hope for the future!

Aurelia wrote: Way to Go Grandma! Lily is lucky to have you in her life. We all tend to want to give to our kids, but it's nice to know you are also teaching her how important it is to Share our good fortune with others...even if it's being able to wake and have a SMILE on our faces that we take with us to the office and SMILE...We are making a difference.
Happy BIrthday Lily...Thanks for sharing :0)
~Aurelia

cirrus wrote: This is super. Books are building blocks for everyone who has the luck to be able to read.

madhur wrote: Wow, what a b'ful way to teach kindness to a little child

CharlieB wrote: Learning to be generous and kind is a wonderful gift to receive as a child; how nice of you to help her receive this in such a positive way. You set a great example for the other kids and parents too!

coffeebug wrote: What a wonderful way to teach a life lesson

Susan wrote: Lily is truly blessed to have such wonderful examples in her family. Teaching her the gift of giving at this young age has set a wonderful example for her. May you continue to instill truth and kindness into her life.

Marilyn wrote: I salute your initiative. What a blessing lily must be to you and her family. Sent to you with love, all the way from richards bay, south africa.

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