We are so fortunate to be surrounded by amazing friends and communities that really focus on sharing this cheer with those less fortunate than us, and we couldn’t be happier in supporting them. We think it’s amazing to be able to teach our children the art of compassion and giving at such a young age. Each year the boys and girls have a Toys for Tots collection box in their school that families donate toys to. Sheena explained the concept to the boys and they each placed a toy that they picked out at the store in the box for those kids. Closer to the end of the collection time, the box was overflowing with gifts. That is when one of the boys said, “Mommy, the box has so many toys now for those kids, can we please take ours back now, I want to play with it.” That comment made her realize that she wanted to do more to teach her children about giving and sharing wholeheartedly. Mommy Vaid always says, “When you give with one hand, God will always give back with two” – that has stuck with us… always…
This year, we wanted to do a little experiment. Starting TODAY (the 15th of December, 2015) we are hosting a “10 Days Before Christmas” give-sake for our kids. Starting today, until Christmas morning, Nina and Sheena are going to have the kids each pick one thing a day that they love, be it a toy, their favorite pencil, shirt, book, anything and wrap it up to put under the tree for a child in need. At the end of the 10 days, we will have them donate those gifts and only then open their gifts. We realized that kids sometimes have a hard time letting go of what they already have or even sharing sometimes, but always want what they don’t have or isn’t theirs. We want to teach them that they are more than welcome to ask for gifts and feel the desire to want, but to also understand and feel the need to give. Of course, this is our own little way of teaching our kids compassion and hopefully it is a fruitful endeavour.
We will be documenting the entire process via our facebook page and instagram (@sheenad29, @ninav33, @therealdipti) pages through the 10 days. We will be using #RARHolidayGive10 on our social media channels. We will be posting pictures of what the kids are picking out, what interesting comments they may have in the process and most importantly how we are guiding them through the emotions of giving back.
We would LOVE LOVE LOVE for you to join us on this quest. Of course you can cater it to your own preference (ie. less days, specific items, etc) but we would be honored to have you and your little tots on board. If you are interested and have questions, you can shoot us an email at info@runwaysandrattles.com. If you join us, feel free to log your 10 days with us on our facebook page or your instagram tagging us @sheenad29, @ninav33 and @therealdipti, using #RARHolidayGive10.
