BOOKS: The Big Birthday Surprise: Junior Discovers Giving

At SixSeeds, we believe in the power of a good story.  The books our children are hearing and reading will move, inspire, and sometimes even shape their lives... even young lives. This week, we take a popular kids' book and examine it. Hopefully, the next time you're browsing though a crowded bookstore, our reviews will help you sort through the thousands of titles…  and you can choose wisely!

Title:  The Big Birthday Surprise: Junior Discovers Giving
Author: Dave Ramsey
Illustrator: Marshall Ramsey
Publisher: Lampo Press
Age: 3-10
Cost: $9.99
Buy It: here
Rating: 41/2 out of 6 seeds

Author and Fox Business media personality Dave Ramsey has helped many people live within their means for years and his Financial Peace principles have rescued many drowning in debt. Who better to help parents trying to give their kids a head start on financial matters? Among his resources, he has written a children’s book series titled Junior’s Adventures.

The Big Birthday Surprise: Junior Discovers Giving is just one of this six part series.  The story begins as Junior is anxiously awaiting his birthday party, imagining the pile of loot that will soon be his.  Meanwhile at school, his class is collecting food for the local orphanage, and Junior is selected to participate in the delivery.

While visiting the orphanage, he meets children who live without items he takes for granted. Afterwards, he begins to look at his resources in a slightly different way. He later tells his parents about a child unable to play catch because he lacks the basic equipment.  In the course of this story, Junior’s mom praises him for requesting food to donate from the family pantry. He is also applauded for giving the toys he doesn’t want anymore to the orphanage.

The Bottom Line:

Are you thinking, where’s the sacrifice in that type of giving?

Take heart.

In the end, Junior's experience does lead him to practice giving at an expense to himself.  When he receives a special birthday check from his grandmother, he first thinks about all that he could buy for himself. Ultimately, however, he decides to buy a bat, ball and glove for his new friend. 

For Mom and Dad to Consider:

Junior’s parents praise him for donating food from their pantry and old toys to the orphanage.  While donated used and no-longer-wanted toys technically is giving (and genuinely resourceful), is it sometimes mistaken for generosity?   Or worse yet, sacrifice? (Fortunately, Junior evolved here.  In a real sense, this story captures the process by which children learn to be givers.  Kids tend to thrive in environments where generosity is practiced, but they don’t typically jump from selfishness to selflessness overnight.)  

 Employees and charitable volunteers can vouch for the countless wasted hours sifting through trash as a result of someone’s “generosity.”   While it’s nice to support the local Goodwill, are we quick to congratulate ourselves because we hauled trash over to Goodwill rather than the dump?

To Talk to Your Kids About:

What is generosity?

It can be tempting to blur the lines between encouraging generosity and forcing it.  When my son was five and we were planning his birthday party, I decided the kids would bring gifts for a charity instead of presents for him.  A dear friend squashed my idea. This woman had raised five great kids and I thought for sure she’d applaud my efforts. Instead she gently convinced me this might not be the best idea for us right now.

When we see a lack of generosity in our children, it’s disheartening and we want them to change. But if we focus solely on the action, our children may learn how to appease the conscience and give their stuff… but their hearts could stay cold towards the needs around them. Real generosity is a bent of the heart. It is when a kid considers other people’s needs more than their own. My wise friend wasn’t advising me to sit passively by and hope one day my son would want to give. No, she was saying train, teach, and model. But wait on generosity … until it’s really his idea. 

Also see our review of "Ask Dave" iPad and iPhone app here!