Stories of Kindness from Around the World

From a Child to the "People Without Houses"


--by paganmum, posted May 18, 2008

About a year ago, I was packing to move myself and my son in with my fiance and his daughter.  My son was finally weaning off baby foods, so as I was packing up the kitchen things, I packed up his old baby food. My step-daughter came into the kitchen to see what I was doing. When she saw me packing up her little brother's food, she squealed!  Why was I taking away all his food???!!!

I laughed and told her that her little brother was big enough now to eat big people food, just like she does. I then told her that I was going to give all his jars of baby food to the shelter up the street. I explained that some people don't have jobs, clothes, food or houses and that she and her brother were very lucky that her Daddy and I make enough money to give them all those things.

"Some people don't have all the things you do, so I'm giving your brother's baby food to them, so that they can feed their little kids," I told her.  She was surprised that there were children that didn't have houses. She thought everyone had a house.  We dropped the food off, and thought that was the end of it.  But we were wrong.

Last week, we were sorting through both the kids' clothes and putting all the ones that didn't fit them anymore into a pile.  My step-daughter pulled me aside at the end, and said, "Can we put these in a box?"  "Sure honey, then what?" I asked her.  "I want to give my clothes to the people without houses," she told me in a 'matter of fact' tone.

I almost cried!!! She went on to repeat all the things I'd said to her a year ago.  She talked about how lucky she was that Daddy and I make enough money to give her all the things she needs and that some kids' parents can't, so they needed her old clothes to keep them warm!  My heart melted, and I hugged her so hard she had to tell me I was squishing her!!

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Readers Comments

brighteyes wrote: Said before but will say again.....

"Aaaawwww....wisdom and love out of the mouth and heart of babes!"
JuneBug wrote: Awwww! You are such an example! That is sooo important! GREAT job,mom! :}
lmil1954 wrote: Wow...that is TOO cool. What a blessing you are to be such an example to your little child!
lOVEBUG wrote: Children are like sponges, they soak up everything that touches them, if you plant good seeds, you will get a healthy plant.
mermangel wrote: wonderful...and proof that they DO listen to what we say and watch what we do!
olive wrote: kids used to follow what adults do..and that's what had happenned..it's just clear that we adults should always show nice things and words to our kids!!
Betsy wrote: when i was little, my dad was in the Exchange Club and they always had a Christmas party for under priviledged children. it made one of the biggest impressions on my life. i now try to give to some charity every year at that time as children are gifts from God and they all should have a gift for Jesus' birthday.
SmilePlease wrote: That is so cute! You are such a lucky person!
laughalot wrote: Great story and a great thing to remember.. we are blessed to be able to live in comfort and have plenty when many people do not have even the basics. Thanks for the reminder! God is great!
dorel wrote: It's amazing how easy we can determine people to help others: by being ourselves an example. The good is always so simple and so effective.

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