Share Jar - Your Kids Can Help Haiti

If you've been following this blog and my advice about having three jars for your kids - Share, Save and Spend Smart - you're likely to have a kid with a sizable amount in his or her Share jar. If your kids have some money saved up and you haven't done so already, the awful events and desperate need in Haiti present you with a teaching moment that will help them make a difference. Have your kids donate the money they've accumulated in those Share jars to Haiti relief. I read today that relief is starting to fade, so now is a great time to help.

The girls and their jars

Most schools are discussing what happened to the tiny island nation and have collection buckets so it's likely very simple for kids to just bring in their money to donate. We even told our girls that we'd match their donations (and include a little more) with our own donation to the Red Cross.

Helping Haiti

Relief dollars for Haiti from a 4-year-old

-John

PS My wife gets the credit not only for coming up with the idea, but also getting it done AND taking pictures.

Back to American Girl

In keeping with my belief that the point of an allowance is to allow kids to make mistakes and learn from them, I said yes to my daughter's request to save for an American Girl doll. She's set her goal and pasted the exact doll she wants on her Save jar. Big bonus - she immediately shifted all of her money from the Spend Smart jar into Save, once again proving that an "owned" goal is just as powerful for 6-year-olds as they are for grown adults.

My hope in this experiment is that she'll earn at least a trickle of appreciation for how expensive the dolls are when she is finally able to purchase one in about two-and-a-half months. It will be interesting. I'll keep you posted.

-John