It has always been important to me for my kids to grow up to be financially literate. Especially with today’s world, where experts are predicting kids are going to struggle just to have the same standard of living their parents have, let alone surpass it.

My goals are that my kids know how to budget and plan, and that they know how to give. To that end, we have regular conversations about our money and theirs. We are real with them about budgeting, and they see me entering my receipts into Every Dollar, a DR (Dave Ramsey) app that helps you budget and track spending. For our homeschool, we read How to Turn $100 into $1,000,000: Earn! Save! Invest!, by James McKenna,‎ Jeannine Glista,‎ and Matt Fontaine. (In fact, I wrote an Amazon review on it that became surprisingly controversial.) It’s not a DR book, but the emphasis on saving and investment strikes a similar chord.

Teaching my kids about philanthropy has been a little more challenging. Our kids know that we support a couple of kids through different organizations. They write letters to our sponsored kid in South America. But since most of our giving happens online, in the form of automatic monthly withdrawals, they aren’t really seeing it happening. And I don’t always think to talk to them about it.

Last Christmas, a family friend had a great idea for a gift for our kids that was both creative, and helped solve the problem of how to teach your kids about giving. We received a $100 check in the mail, with a note that said in part, “This year I would like you to use this…money to help someone. Talk it over with your parents but discuss it mostly amongst yourselves for ideas.”

The kids sat at the dining room table and talked. I stuck around to answer questions and clarify intents: “No, you can’t just distribute the money to your friends.” Our oldest had been learning about the ongoing crisis in Puerto Rico at school; he wanted the money to go there. Another kid wanted to help disabled children. Did they want to split the money, or just put it all in one place? They decided they wanted all the money to go toward helping disabled kids in Puerto Rico. I told them I would research organizations and let them know what I found.

World Vision, an organization we already support, has a disaster relief fund for those affected by Hurricane Maria that includes help for vulnerable families through local churches, so the kids donated their money there. The kids gathered around the computer, helped enter our information, and were the ones who clicked the button to finalize the donation.

Since we cashed the check before giving online, my husband and I matched the amount and we have been giving the cash away to homeless folks we come across, ten dollars at a time. This is typically when we are driving, since there are particular intersections where homeless folks panhandle by traffic lights in our area. Whenever I am taking the kids somewhere, we bring the cash, and I hand it out the window. This method has kept giving on our minds in an ongoing way.

If you have a kid in your life who has everything, and you are starting to think about holiday giving (if you weren’t, I’ll bet you are now), consider this as a great way to familiarize them with philanthropy and help them think differently about what they’ve been given. My hunch is that knowing your money is going to a charitable cause will feel really good. I know being part of the process with my kids has been a great experience. Giving is good for the soul.