spending and sharing

A friend recently told me about how she teaches her daughter about philanthropy. I loved the concept and want to adopt it with M when she is a bit older. Every week her daughter gets her allowance and she has three jars to put it in. One for spending, one for saving, and one for sharing.

Her daughter understands she is to divide it up equally into the three jars. The spend jar gets to be used for whatever she wants, and the save jar is used for the really special thing she wants and is learning to save for. The share jar is for her to use when she learns about things people need. She can choose where to give it to, but she knows she is to use it to help others. She's purchased a blanket for a homeless person with her share money, and helped pay for child care for another woman who was in need. I know we aren't talking about huge dollar amounts here, but it's so very much about awareness and compassion and so much less about the amount itself.

I can't tell you how much I love this. Especially since her daughter is only six.

The other day she overheard her mom talking on the phone about the money troubles in her agency (she is also in non-profit) so she walked over and handed her her share jar and asked her to use it for her job "since they need money to help more people".

What a lifetime gift she is giving her child. I can't wait to start this same tradition with M.