Small Acts, Massive Ripples: Holiday Generosity for Dads & Kids

There's something incredible and contagious about generosity.

Especially during the holidays. As dads, we've all felt that spark of something bigger during the holidays — the kind of warmth that turns a simple act into bigger ripples. There are inspiring stories of kindness circulating, and they're worth sharing with our kids and families.

Here are a few examples that show how small gestures can snowball into life-changing moments, and reminding us why it’s worth stepping up in this way as dads.

One such story first appeared in a small local newspaper quite a few years ago: One chilly December evening, a woman pulled into a fast-food taco drive-through, feeling discouraged and low on hope. Clutching her last few dollars, she whispered a short prayer: “Lord, please give me some sort of sign that You are hearing me, something to show that Your kindness is still in the world.” She paid for her modest order and was surprised that she still had a dollar left. That’s when she heard a quiet inner voice urging her to give it to the cashier with instructions to apply it to the next customer's bill along with a simple “Merry Christmas.” It seemed like a wild idea, but in her desperation she went for it.

The cashier passed it on, but the next driver didn’t accept the gift — he added to it for the person behind him. And so it went, car after car, each person refusing the freebie and building on the kindness instead. What started as a single dollar spread like wildfire through the line and kept growing.

As the story goes, just before closing, a family of six entered the restaurant whose car had broken down a few miles away. They ordered six tacos and six waters, and received over $2,000 with their food — enough for a better meal, a night’s lodging, the needed car repairs, help with some other bills, and a few gifts for Christmas. One dollar and a simple prayer turned into a lifeline for strangers, and the first woman probably never knew about the results; she just started the ball rolling.

It’s a lesson for us and our kids about how our small efforts to do good can be amplified in ways we never expect.

The above story is hard to verify, but there are many other pay-it-forward occurrences to consider and talk about with your kids. A similar chain of kindness happened at a Dairy Queen in Brainerd, Minnesota, back in December 2020, in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. One customer covered the next car's order, and the Christmas spirit just kept going. At closing time, someone left money to restart the chain in the morning, and it lasted for two and a half days and more than 900 vehicles.

Late one recent Christmas Eve, a mom was assembling her four-year-old daughter’s big gift, a piano keyboard. When she opened the box, she found only the stand and bench; the keyboard itself was missing. At about 1:00 a.m. she shared about her frustration on Facebook, and a dad living across town saw the message and realized that his daughter had a lightly used keyboard that was gathering dust. So right then he woke up his two kids, drove over and gifted the keyboard. The mom later commented, “I literally just met Santa Claus, like, in real life. That was actually him, and he came with elves and everything.”

Sometimes generosity tackles deeper needs, like with the single mom and five kids who were living in a run-down motel room for seven months. She had a job but couldn’t save enough to afford the deposit for an apartment. Corporal Wilson, a police officer, often saw them at a local restaurant, and when he heard their story he took action. He turned a small "Shop with a Cop" program into a major fundraising effort on social media and around the community. The program raised enough to present the mother with keys to an apartment, with the deposit and three months’ rent prepaid, just before Christmas.

There are also examples from history, like the World War I Christmas Truce of 1914. Amid the brutal fighting on the Western Front, opposing sides (primarily German and British troops) paused the fighting on Christmas Eve. They set up small trees, sang carols, and ventured into No Man's Land to shake hands, swap gifts like cigarettes and food, and even play soccer with their “enemies.”

Do you know more examples?

Now might be a good time to talk about them — and the values behind them — with your children. Maybe over dinner, tell them about how generosity can endure and unite people, even in hard times. How stepping in for others can create lasting positive connections. How one person's initiative can rally others to provide stability and hope. How kindness can bridge some of the widest divides.

This Christmas season, remind your children — and demonstrate together — that kindness and compassion can be profoundly inspiring, and can turn everyday moments into miracles. Dive into benevolent outreaches or start one yourself. Fire up your kids’ imaginations and get them brainstorming ways to help others, you as a real-life Santa and them as your elves.

Maybe you’ll kick off a trend in your community. You might even plant the seeds for habits or traditions that your kids will carry on for years, and not just in December.

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