Pride Day at School

Kiddo's school has had a Pride Day every year since Sept. 11. They have it either on or very close to 9/11. Today is Pride Day, the kids are having a special assembly and are wearing Red, White and Blue. Since Hurricane Katrina did so much damage (gosh, that feels like an understatement) his school is also having the kids bring in coins to donate.

Yesterday, in the car:

Me: So, are you going to give some of your money to help out?

Him: No.

Me: Ok, fine. You don't have to... but you know those children don't have their clothes, their toys, their books, their PlayStation games....

Him: *thinking*

Him: Ok, I will give 5 [cents]

Me: Just 5 cents?

Him: Ok, 8

Me: Why only 8?

Him: I don't have that much.

Me: Yeah you do. You have a piggy bank with lots of coins. Me and dad always give you our change.

Him: Oh yeah, 'cuz some of those are tens, huh.


This morning:

Without any prompting he brings out his piggy bank and tells me he needs to get it open. I pry it open and start dumping. I've got a pile on the couch and I ask him what he wants to give. He looks at the pile and takes a little from it to keep, looks at the big pile that's left and says, "That much."

So I counted it out - $2.48. We put it into a ziplock baggie for him to take to school. He was highly impressed with the amount. "Wow. That's a LOT! The town that gets this is gonna be lucky."

He's hilarious even if he doesn't quite fully get it.

I explained to him that $2.48 alone really isn't much - but that with all the children bringing in some of their coins it is going to add up and really help some people. I went on to tell him this wasn't about having mom's and dad's give their dollars to the kids to bring - it was about the children. I told him his dad and I had already given some of our money. His response, "Really? That's cool."