Who will join me? Give for good this Christmas.

I don’t know about you but toy catalogues are receiving plenty of attention in our house at the moment. The object of Christmas desire for my four year old son is some sort of trash can plaything, a toy that has no discernible educational or material merit. Santa will most likely capitulate and grant this little boy, who has been trying ever so hard to be good with a toy that is both literally and metaphorically rubbish. The truth is, I struggle with knowing amidst the hectic commercialization of Christmas how to instill the values I hold dear to my children. One of the ways I will try to do this (and that worked well last year) is to use an alternative type of catalogue – the World Vision gift catalogue. I am hopeful that it will prompt him, in addition to taking joy from his own presents, to take joy from giving a gift of substance to another family living in poverty.

If you read this blog you are probably, like me, among the more privileged of the world’s population. Our family has decided that, when we travel we will gift 10% of the cost of our tickets to those less fortunate than ourselves, and World Vision is one of the organisations that we give to. You can read about why we made this decision here.

This week I will be exploring the World Vision gift catalogue with my two young boys and asking them to choose gifts that they would like to give to a family living in situations that we find difficult to imagine. The catalogue offers us the opportunity to gift families and communities with items, services and animals that will contribute to the recipients having an improved quality of life, and in some instances saving their lives. Examples of the gifts are livestock such as lambs and pigs, mosquito nets, and emergency food. World Vision will send us cards with a picture of each gift, and I will put these under the Christmas tree to remind my boys of the important gifts they chose.

I would like to ask readers of this blog, those that like me want to give their own children the best that life has to offer, to join with me this Christmas in helping other families give their own children better lives. Clicking on the button below will direct you to the World Vision Gift catalogue online. You may also like to share this post with others that you think are looking for ways to counter the commercial circus that Christmas has become with their own children.