The true “gift of giving” during the holiday season comes from the heart, not the pocketbook—points out Agnes Holt, assistant principal at Fairlawn Elementary School in Ft. Pierce, Florida.

“Gifts shouldn’t be judged by monetary value,” she explains.

Parents can teach children this lesson by encouraging them to give of themselves.

Here are some ways children might share with others now and throughout the coming year:

• Create greeting cards with inexpensive art supplies.
• Bake cookies or brownies as gifts.
• Help grandparents or other elderly people clean or decorate their homes.
• Address greeting cards or write letters for physically disabled people.
• Call friends and relatives and extend best wishes for their health and happiness.
• Place a drawing or picture in an inexpensive frame as a gift for a special person.
• Read a story to someone, especially an elderly person.
• Take telephone messages for ill parents, grandparents, or neighbors.

Copyright © Parent Institute