family,  parenting

“I Want Them To Know They Are Loved” – On Holiday Gifts That Matter #MeaningfulGifts

Boys play with a wooden gun used in re-enactment dramas, which can be part of rehabilitation therapy sessions. Many are familiar with how to handle the weapon. Photographs from World Vision's Children of War Rehabilitation Center in Gulu: daily life under World Vision's care and reunions with their families; portraits to accompany Nigel Marsh interviews. Please refer to Nigel Marsh Scribe stories and to the Winter 2005 WVUS magazine cover story. Africa digital color horizontal

Boys play with a wooden gun used in re-enactment dramas, which can be part of rehabilitation therapy sessions. Many are familiar with how to handle the weapon. – Photographs from World Vision’s Children of War Rehabilitation Center in Gulu: daily life under World Vision’s care and reunions with their families; portraits to accompany Nigel Marsh interviews.

This is a Guest Post by my Daughter Payton Schuck, she’s in grade nine this year and has been involved with helping us choose which World Vision Canada gift catalogue holiday gifts that we give as a family. This family tradition started last year. In grade seven Payton did a project about child soldiers. Today for Take Your Child To Work Day she is working with me, learning about social media consulting, using social media for social good and she decided to write a guest post about which of the gifts speak to her heart in the World Vision Canada gift catalogue….these are her words.

By Payton Schuck

War. A word we all hear, but most of us have never experienced. We see children playing soldiers, but what about the ones who live that nightmare? Big guns in little hands killing. Because they have to. Because sometimes kids are stolen from families. Because they thought this would help their family. Because they want to make their parents proud. Because they want to be a hero. Now they are the victim.

But there is hope. You can be the hero. You can help restore a broken child soldier for $75. That’s a very small price for a big change.

Today, I am using my own savings to restore a child soldier with World Vision Canada’s help. because I want them to know that they are loved and that there are people out there who won’t hurt them and want to help them. This is the holiday gift I choose this year with my family.

If you want to help give back this year, you can also choose something from the World Vision gift catalogue. This is my recommendation. Imagine if you were in their position. Imagine the things they have seen. This is a chance to make a difference. Children as young as eight are stolen and forced to become soldiers. That shouldn’t happen, ever.

There are a lot of options that are easy to save money for. There’s something more to giving when you give a gift like this. Rather than just giving another video game or present you can give something that matters to someone else. These holiday gifts change lives and make a huge impact on children and communities around the world.

This year I am choosing to use some of my babysitting money to help child soldiers.

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Huge thanks to my daughter for writing this. I think she did a great job and she made me cry because I thought we were choosing a gift of a piglet or roosters together and she came up with this instead.

 

Mom of two beautiful active girls, traveller, fitness junkie, social media consultant, and keeper of the sanity.

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