Philanthropy 101

It started with a tent. A friend and her family came over to borrow a tent. While we were visiting
outside my six-year old son started making trips back and forth, bringing oodles of superhero toys out to give to my friend’s two-year old child, B. He brought one after the other- Blue Beetle, Batman, Gorilla Grod and they just kept coming. B was thrilled. My son was grinning and obviously pleased with himself. They ended playing with the toys together, crashing the bat-mobiles into other toys, racing the cars and giggling. Each of them delighted for different reasons.

Me? I was beaming. I’m sure planes flying over were blinded by my pride. My heart was doing cartwheels. I taught him right! He was paying paying it forward…without being asked to do it. We all complimented him left and right. I was thinking “He’s definitely headed for greatness. At the very least, the Nobel Peace Prize.”  No six-year old gives away his toys of his own volition, right?

Our friends left and we headed inside and to astonishment P announced he’s going to look for
more toys to give B for the next time we see him. Holy cats! He’s the world’s youngest
philanthropist! To confirm it all, my friend texts me to say thank you and comments “P is a great kid”. Yup, best kid ever.

I started to clean things up before bed when my son asked me, “Can I have my $10.00?”
I turned, confused, “$10.00?”
“Yeah, remember? If I give away a lot of my toys? Remember?”
My heart sank. I remembered. Now. Weeks ago I tried to get him to clear out some toys. I
offered him $10.00 to get rid of a lot of them. I even suggested he give them to B. Darn
his steel trap of a memory and his desire to be Scrooge McDuck!

Of course, we “discussed” why he chose to give those toys away and that he won’t be getting any
money for doing it. He was pretty cool about it. Before we headed off to bed, he said to
himself, “B’s got a good smile.” My heart started doing cartwheels again. I still think he’s pretty special. He might even get that Nobel Peace Prize.