A Different Kind of Family Night

Last Tuesday night we had our family night. We really didn't have a theme, but more of a project. We were going to do our Samartian's Purse Operation Shoeboxes. For those who don't know about Operation Shoebox let me give you a quick overview; every year Samartian Purse collects shoeboxes that people fill with all kinds of toys and goodies for kids all over the world who don't get anything for Christmas. It is a great project to get your kids involved with, you get to choose the gender and age group you want your box to go to. Anyway we showed them the video of where these shoeboxes were going to go and how happy this makes these children who hardly have anything. They were excited. We listened to Christmas music while they made cards, talked about what they wanted to put in there boxes and then we headed out to Target to buy the stuff. This is where is went downhill. They started off strong and then it turned into what they wanted for Christmas, ok so that is normal for their age, but they kept on getting distracted after we would continue to get them back on track. By the time we were checking out Chris and I were feeling a little frustrated and then Noah and Owen said "I wish we were getting the new things we are putting in the boxes." At this point Chris and I couldn't believe they were being so selfish! We stepped out of line and talked with them and asked them to name all that they have and how they have everything and more that we are giving to these children. At this point Noah said "Actually Mom, we don't have the Cars pad that we are giving them." I couldn't believe it! At this point we decided to end Family Night.

As I was thinking through the night I was frustrated that I was raising such selfish kids and that they couldn't see how blessed they are when it hit me. Noah and Owen were just expressing what we as adult think, but we know it isn't appropriate to say outloud. How often do we as adults think about what we don't have compared to others or how we would love that new thing. We walk around stores wanting what we see, but we just don't go around expressing those desires because we know how blessed we are and we are aware of how fortunate we are compared to so many others, but we still think it, want it and sometimes get frustrated because we don't have it. I don't think my boys are selfish I think they are human and Chris and I as parents just want to remind them and us how fortunate we are everyday. We want to raise boys who always put others first and they might not totally understand what they are doing with the shoeboxes, but the more we expose them to these situations the hope is that they will grow up to be generous adults.

Anyway, we talked some more with them about the shoeboxes and on Saturday morning we finished up the project by wrapping the boxes and stuffing them with all the goodies. They were very proud of them and proudly turned them in on Sunday morning.

Making our cards, heading out to Target and looking for good goodies to fill the boxes!

Finally finished and ready to turn in!