Giving Thanks and Giving Back - The OFab Way!
With the holiday season coming up, friends and family gather together to give thanks for what they are grateful to have in their lives. With the gift-giving holidays approaching, we shouldn’t overlook the children in these conversations about how they can give back and give thanks, too.
At OFab, we call this having the conversation about your "stuff". At Thanksgiving, we like to stress to the kiddos especially that, while they are fortunate to have what they do (and that presents are coming soon?), they should think about how to give back to people who may be struggling or kids who do not have presents for the holidays.
Having those conversations changes the way you look at your own belongings. Having a lot of things can make you feel comfortable, but as with the various issues surrounding the pandemic, especially those affecting your children, it’s too easy to forget how important your time is.
For me, Saturdays used to be cleaning days and we hated it, but that's what we did and we found ways of making it fun for ourselves. (It seemed that we didn't have as much stuff as we have now - but we spent Saturdays cleaning the garage and doing chores just the same!)
As much as I hated it, there are easier ways to do this now. Now we have services including OFab, that can help. Here's how we, coming from a different time in the 70s, can help people do good work in this world while teaching their children this invaluable lesson about gratitude and generosity.
No one wants to organize the garage or get rid of any of their stuff. It's actually a disservice to attempt this unless you have a system in place to manage the amount of "stuff". (As George Carlin would say, we get a bigger house so we can get more stuff!)
Don't let your stuff infiltrate your work-life balance and your precious family time, which is now more important than ever.
They say to break a habit you need to do something 7 times to establish a new way of looking at it - and for kids, it’s even harder. So, make slight changes at first, big changes can be daunting. If it is a toy that represents a memory to them, we need to honor it and display it. If there's nowhere else for something that is meaningful to them, let's find an empty wall where it can be honored. This can give children a reason to feel good about their generosity as opposed to having their stuff taken away from them. (And it's a good thing!)
When you realize you want fewer things to worry about and want to feel good about your life and your children’s lives, OFab can help you with these difficult decisions. Want to give back and show your children how to help make the world a better place?
