Do not let greed replace generosity.

• Position: Gift-Giving - Brief article

Children are generous by nature but, during the holiday season, they can be overwhelmed by greed. With so many advertisements focused on kids, youngsters can lose their natural balance. To counter the commercialism, parents need to reawaken that natural spirit of giving in their offspring.

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"Just as a well-balanced diet in the early years helps children's bodies to develop healthfully, so, too, does encouraging a child's social and emotional relationship to giving and philanthropy in the early years impact their charitable impulses in later life," says Marcia Stankard author of The Spriitelees: A Christmas Tale About Kindness.

Stories of giving and sharing are one of the easiest and simplest ways for parents and teachers to...