The value of giving!

As the date of our return to India draws near, we are now on a wind-up mode. This means that we are breaking our heads over how to squeeze our two bedroom establishment into 10 shipping boxes and 6 suitcases! I wish we had Hermione’s undetectable extension charm for that!! (From Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) Anyway, trust me, this is a job that nobody wants. We are now trying to sort our belongings into  various heads -  “things to be given away” , “to be sold” , “to be shipped or packed  as check-in luggage” and “things to be donated”. Well, Abhay does not exactly agree with this distinction. For him, all his toys are in the “things to be shipped or packed” category! So much so, he is not even ready to part with his toddler toys like the bead maze or barnyard toy piano or his 'Baby Einstein' board books! Nevertheless, that doesn’t stop us from giving away his stuff anyway, but it would be nice if we could instill the value of giving in our four year old. Besides, the less attached he is to his belongings; the less baggage he’ll have in life! Like his mom, Abhay too finds it hard to let go. After all, an apple cannot fall far from the tree!Isn't it?

So in order to make him understand the joy in giving, today I read “Ivy loves to give” by Freya Blackwood. Ivy loves to give and sometimes her gifts or presents are not quite right for the recipient – a pair of glasses for the dog, or a cup of tea for her hen, or a pacifier for the cat! But she finds a way to make her presents perfectly fit the bill – glasses for her grandma, a nice cup of tea for mom, pacifier for the baby and boy does it feel good to give! But when she finds something that would rather keep, like her sister’s princess skirt, Ivy is allowed to keep it! So in return, Ivy gives the best gift of all– a big hug to her sister!  So when I asked Abhay if he was ready to give away some of his toys that he didn't need, my cunning four year old pointed to two of his toy engines whose batteries needed to be replaced! So much for my charity lessons!