Buddy Blog Day 10: Food for Thought

Sometimes I wonder how much of the donation type of kindness is completely lost on John. At 4 years old, thankfully, he can't comprehend a world where children don't get Christmas presents, where babies don't have toys, where families have to choose between heating their homes or eating and where people without homes sleep in doorways.

When he woke up this morning to find to his disappointment that Buddy had greedily eaten his advent he was overjoyed to find that Holly had left him some soup and jelly. 'How random' he must've thought!

He had already opened the jelly and was tucking in by the time I made it downstairs frantically asking him to stop and wait until I read the note. When I read that this food was for the Foodbank, for people who don't have enough food, he stopped eating immediately and said "they can have the rest, I prefer the strawberry anyway." Bless his heart.

My concerns over his understanding of giving in a charitable way are possibly unfounded as he eloquently explained to his Dad as soon as he entered the room that the tins were not for him but for other people at the Foodbank.  He seemed worried that his Dad might scoff a whole tin of vegetable soup for breakfast before finding out that it wasn't ours.

Holly also left some coins to buy more tins so we will be taking a trip out on Friday to fill a bag with tins and packets that the foodbank have requested on their website. We have also appealed on facebook for any donations that others may have for us to collect. I hope that this is the start of John's realisation that the world is bigger than him. Not to strip him of his innocence but to teach him about inequality,  to encourage compassion and to support him to feel that he can make a difference in the world.

#SharingBuddysMagic
#HollysHolidayHappiness

Buddy Blog Day 9: Toytastic

John and Jamie are very lucky children that they have so many toys. We are in desperate need of a clear out with Christmas coming soon. Holly helped us out with this as she has tasked us with bagging up some old toys and donating them to the children's ward at the hospital. John was surprisingly up for this and although we won't manage along until the weekend, he has already started a pile in his room that he says the sick boys and girls can play with. He also kindly suggested that Jamie should give away all his little baby toys as babies get sick too and might want to play.

It looks as if Buddy has been having a ball playing with John's lego. He has even brought him a Chima wolf to build with a lego book to read.

#SharingBuddysMagic
#HollysHolidayHappiness

Giving on a Shoestring - April (Year of Giving)

Yes I know it's May but it's been a busy April and we were on holiday so this is the first chance I've had to blog about my April giving exploits.

I struggle financially every April. I have usually only just got over the 'over' spend from Christmas when April hits me. April is a month full of family and friends birthdays as well as the Easter holidays so it is naturally a time of giving and usually a time of expense. As I am still on Maternity pay, if you can call it that, it barely covers my monthly food bill, I had to make my giving 'budget' this month. 

I recently bought a book called 'A Girl Called Jack'. It's a budget recipe book by a fellow blogger. The opening chapter had me in tears and really started the idea of this month's giving project. Here it is here if you want to go read it and come back ... 

It really is a brilliant cookbook if you are trying to feed yourself and your family healthily and on a budget. I think what I took from reading her post was a sense of perspective. I was, at that time, feeling pretty sorry for myself, feeling hard done by at having to cut back and tighten belts but I was being so closed to how privileged I really am. You forget that there are people in parts of the UK who are dealing with extreme poverty and that children here are going to bed hungry.

We think of hunger and we think of famine in Africa. We don't think about the kids living in our streets, villages, towns who are living with hunger on a daily basis. Obviously the situation in war torn countries has many layers of poverty, social problems and strife making comparison impossible but I believe it is never right that a child should be hungry. Truly hungry. Regardless of what side of the equator they live on. 

So I decided that this April would be a time to give to charities supporting these children. I bagged up all my old clothes and took them to the recycling centre. I emptied my food cupboard of all the non perishables that I knew I would never use and took them along to the local food bank. I set up a link with a local parenting support project and agreed with them that I would be donating books as my children out grow them to be used in their playroom and to be given to families in the local area. I plan on doing the same with Jamie's clothes as he outgrows them. Rather than selling them and making a small amount of profit for them I will donate them to charity or give them to someone who needs them.

On a similar note, A friend of mine on Facebook posted recently about how her son had seen a homeless man sitting out in the street and he felt compelled to go to the nearest shop and buy him something to eat and drink. I think that this shows what a compassionate and thoughtful young man he is going to be. Too many of us sit around and moan about the benefits culture, the immigrants, the homeless. We forget that underneath the label is a person. That person was at some point an innocent child. Someone's son or daughter. Some people take a wrong turn in life. Some people are born into misfortune. At the end of the day you never know what is in front of you. You never know when your luck might run out and you find yourself in a tight squeeze financially or at risk of losing your home. I know if it was me I would hope for the hand of a good Samaritan to offer me assistance or at the very least compassion. 

So I urge you to join me in giving. Look around your house. What could you give away? Look in your food cupboard. Will you use all those tins? Take them to your local food bank. Do you have lots of children's books that are not being read anymore? Bring them to me and I will deliver them to Home Start. You could play a part in ensuring that little tummies don't go hungry tonight. That they are warm and well clothed and have a nice bedtime story to read.

Listography - Lessons from my parents

Kate over at Kate Takes 5 has set us the challenge of coming up with our 5 lessons that we learnt from our parents. Here's my attempt . . .

1. Treat other people the way you would like to be treated - or better

I was brought up to treat other people with kindness and respect. I think that I manage to get this right most of the time but I am bound to slip up from time to time. I don't think you can go far wrong in your treatment of other people by using yourself as a benchmark. I sometimes look at people's behaviour and wonder how they can be so cruel and unkind to others without giving it a second thought. I am proud of the fact that my parents brought me up to be tolerant and accepting of others, regardless of who they are, what they look like, what beliefs they hold and even how they treat me. To my detriment at times, I continue to look for the good in people who shit all over me!

2. There's no pockets in a shroud.

This is really from my Dad and at times it has not always served me well as I tend to spend money thoughtlessly at times but I feel the sentiment is worth looking at in depth. He taught me that it is important to live for today. Don't plan your life instead of living it as you never know when your time may run out. You can save your money for a rainy day but that rainy day might never come. So if there is something you are passionate about, spend the money, spend the time and live your life to the full.

3. Everything happens for a reason, just believe.

Over the years life has thrown us some major obstacles. At times it has felt like fate/God/whatever/whoever you believe is writing the script of our lives is really messing with our family. Sending heartache and disappointment at the worst times. However my Mum always stood by her belief that all the horrible things in life have a knock on effect at some later point in our lives which shapes who we being as people, making us stronger or guiding us in directions we may not have chosen to go. I have to admit that the rubbish moments in my life so far have all healed with time and led me down more positive paths.

4. Karma, Baby, Yeah!

Give out ugliness and you'll get ugliness in return. When I was bullied at school I remember my Mum telling me that 'You'll see your own of them' which basically means that the hurt they have caused you will come back to them and in years to come you will be in a much better place and be able to look back at this and laugh. They also taught me that the people you meet on your way up will be the ones you see again on the way down so treat them nicely. There is nothing more annoying that people who think they are a class above everyone else, someone who looks down on others because they are, in their opinion, more fortunate.

5. Don't tell black lies and keep an eye on the white ones

From a very young age I was told never to lie. Even if the truth was hurtful or if I would get into trouble should the truth come to light. I was always encourage to come clean with the truth. I was taught by my Mum  that I would get into so much more trouble if I lie and I am then found out because not only will I be in trouble for the actual deed I am lying about but also for lying. I hate the feeling of being lied to and I like to think I have a bullshit detector installed within me. I actually tell the kids in my class that I was upgraded at 'teacher school' with an internal lie detector and eyes in the back of my head. This is what I call a white lie. One that doesn't really harm anyone not like those awful big black lies that cause so much pain to others. I like to keep an eye on the white lies though so that lying doesn't become a habit.

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