The Soul of Generosity

Every chance we get, we try to teach the kids empathy and giving to those who don't have as much. Kael understands this much more than Malia.

On Sunday Truong had a weird craving for McDonald's so that's where we headed for lunch. Sadly, the kids know that they get a lunch with a toy. Even more sad is those cheap plastic toys are the toys that they play with the most. Strange but true. Like every Mom in the known universe, I'm constantly thinning out their toy stash by tossing out junk stuff that they get from -- you guessed it -- places like McDonald's. Our donut lady collects un-opened McD's toys to give to CHOC kids so I figured this would be a good lesson in charity. You know, give away that toy for a child who's sick and doesn't have enough money to buy toys.

Kael: Why don't they have money?
Me: Sometimes their moms and dads work hard to make money, but it's not enough.

Kael: Did they waste it?
Me: No, they didn't waste it. Seeing the doctor is expensive. Sometimes it takes a lot of money to get better. So they don't have any money left to buy things like toys for the sick kids. It would be very nice to give those sick kids the toys that you don't need or don't play with anymore. Like the toys from lunch. You have a lot of toys at home so you don't need those toys too.

Kael thinks about it, then says: OK. That's a good idea.

I'm not surprised by his answer because he has a very giving, very gentle soul. But just in case, I hope the Happy Meal toy is lame so he's not tempted to keep it.

We go through the drive-thru and head home when he mentions donating toys again.

Kael: Hey Mom? Malia has a lot of toys she doesn't play with. We should give her toys to the sick kids. I play with all my toys but Malia doesn't. And she has a lot of toys.

Oh, yeah. He's very giving alright.