Something I learned from my dad in many ways was the ability to share and give without expecting anything in return. My dad was brought up in a large family with 11 brothers and sisters. He also grew up in a not so nice part of town since my grandma struggled to make ends meet and even feed them. My dad worked since he was a kid selling Candy on the streets of Ponce. He has plenty of stories on how he would charge the tourists a bit more for the Candy and make a larger profit. He did make that extra profit so he could at least get to enjoy every once in a while a movie, soda, and popcorn. The full amount of money he made went to his mom so she could feed his brother and sisters so every time he had an opportunity to make a bit more of profit he would save it and gift himself a trip to the movies for the hard work he had done for days and sometimes weeks.
Given how my dad had to struggle to help his mom feed his brothers at an early age you can tell he is hardwired to share. My dad fills his life with good deeds to others and does not even want recognition. I remember many of his deeds as a kid where he would do something nice for someone and show us that he expected us to the same.
In my case I try to follow his steps and do good deeds. Although I am very picky of whom I do these for. If I land a large project I make sure I give a little bit back. Some donations I might announce publicly without disclosing the amount because I know there are organizations in need of such donations like for example Sasfa.org, which is having huge issues with keeping their 300 dogs at the no kill shelter fed. If a few of you can donate $5 it would make a big difference. In other occasions I will see someone who might need help like a while back where a Catholic Nun could not find her wallet to pay for gas. By the time she got back to the cash register with the money or to apologize her amount had already been paid. I think is some way of paying back on how a few catholic priests and missionaries helped me stay focused during those tough teenage years.
I think the best way I can teach my daughter how to share is by doing the same for others. If she sees me sharing I am sure she will repeat it. Daniela has demonstrated she is way ahead of the game because for some reason she continues to share her food with our black Labrador Juanga and she did not learn that from me.
What actions do you take upon to make sure our young sidekicks now the importance of sharing?
[…] did not feel left out and now with our 10 month daughter he protects her and obviously loves when she feeds him some of her own food (let’s just hope it does not happen the other way around and Juanga is feeding her some of […]