“Charity begins at home.” If I had a dime for each time my parents used that expression while I was growing up, I’d be rich enough to start my own charity.
Its repetition was annoying, but effective nonetheless. My brothers and I learned the value of loyalty, and the importance of taking care of the people close to you. Now that I’m a parent, I try to provide opportunities for my child to lend a hand at home, so that when it comes time to help others outside our inner sanctum, she jumps at the chance without giving it a second thought.
Thanksgiving is a great chance to teach kids the importance of charity, the value of teamwork, and to demonstrate that working toward a common goal can actually be fun.
Rather than have your kids sit in front of the television or computer screen while you work like a dog preparing for the big Turkey Day celebrations, get them involved with these simple tasks:
Set-up the kids table: Have your older kids prep the kids’ table. They can cover a small card table with brown craft paper and set out a bowl of crayons to keep your little turkeys busy until dinner is served. If you have computer savvy children, have them print out Thanksgiving-themed coloring pages and put those on the table too. You could also get your older ones to fill buckets with scissors, glue, construction paper, scraps of felt, stencils, pipe cleaners and stickers. Then, place the craft buckets on the table so your youngest guests can design their own Pilgrims and Indians.
Social activities: Give your kids creative freedom to design games for the entire family to partake in. They could host a turkey drawing contest, and then act as the judges. Or, have them gather the troops to make a Thanksgiving Tree. Get your kids to collect a few branches from your yard and place them in a large pot. Next, cut-out a bunch of leaf shapes from construction paper or colored foam. As your guests arrive have your children encourage them to decorate the leaves with markers and write something he or she is thankful for on the front of the leaf. As the leaves are completed, your children can attach them to the branches with glue.
Menu: Give your kids a list of all the items you will be serving as a part of your Thanksgiving meal and let them put together a menu on cardstock. Allow them to come up with original names for the dishes, such as “Mom’s Melt-in-Your-Mouth Meatballs,” “Aunt Suzy’s Stupendous Stuffing,” “Cousin Martha’s Rock and Roll Mashed Potatoes” or “Grandpa’s Better than Roadkill Biscuits.”
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