Children Will Lead the Way

Earlier this week, my boys came home from school very excited about the upcoming “jeans day”. If they brought at least one dollar to school they could wear jeans and the money raised is going to be donated to help the people of Haiti. Now, I was not surprised that the school was doing a fund-raiser for the people of Haiti, but I was surprised by my youngest son’s reaction.

My youngest boy recently turned as, and like many seven-year-olds, he is fairly self-centered. To be honest, he is extremely self-centered. It isn’t that he is selfish per se, or that he is mean, it’s just that the feelings and needs of others just isn’t a part of his thought process yet. Although I know this is partly due to his age and that he will grow out of it as he becomes more mature, there have been times that when my wife and I have been concerned by his lack of concern for others thoughts, wants and feelings. Please, don’t get me wrong, he is a great kid, he is just very concrete and the world (at least in his eyes) revolves solely around him.

When the boys came home to tell me about “jeans day”, I expected them to ask me for a dollar so they could participate, but they didn’t, which was shock number one. Shock number two came when my youngest son asked if I remembered the $20 he got for his birthday. The third shock came after I told him I remembered his birthday money and he asked if it was okay if “he donated all my dollars to Haiti.” A smile creased my face as I pulled him in for a hug and told him I thought that would be a great idea.

I was a little worried when “jean day” finally rolled around. It is easy to talk about donating all your birthday money to those in need, but when the time come to actually do it, well, that is hard. Again, I was shocked as I watched my son proudly pull his jeans and t-shirt on, pull his piggy bank off the dresser, and then pull out $12 (he had forgotten he had spent some of his birthday money already). He then put the money in a plastic sandwich bag before tucking it into his backpack. As we walked out the door for school, I asked him why he wanted to “donate all his dollars to Haiti”. He looked at me like I had asked the silliest question in the world and simply said, “Dad, they need help.”

Go figure. Just when I think I have my kids figured out, they go and throw me for a loop and for this I couldn’t be more proud.