Teach Your Little Ones to Love Giving. Really!

Mounting research shows that we have nothing short of an entitlement epidemic gripping today's youth. The books Generation Me and Generation Debt (by two different authors) make rather ironic bookends: narcissistic entitlement at one end and financial ruin at the other.

As the holidays set in and the season of giving begins to brush elbows with the cabal of commercialism, we're presented with -- to borrow from the classic education vernacular -- an ideal "teaching moment."

But exactly how do you convince material boys and girls to love giving as much as getting?

Teach them to value every dollar. Tired of playing shopping cart bad cop? Give your child spending power by turning the yes/no verdict over to Junior. Children who are free to spend their money on whatever they want (provided it doesn't require gunpowder, gasoline, or a parental signature on a safety waiver) are more thoughtful and less impulsive (after a while, at least).

Make dollar decisions tangible. Even adults have a hard time visualizing mounting debt or increased savings. Help your children grasp such concepts with visual cues: Illustrate important allocation lessons of short-term and long-term savings and charity with separate piggy banks for each or a running tally on a whiteboard.

Pull back the curtain on retail marketing tricks. Kids don't like being told what to do. Show them that advertisers are bossier than Mom and Dad with a set of interactive lessons on common marketing mind tricks, available at pbskids.org/dontbuyit.

Reward savings behavior. According to sharesavespend.com, kids today spend five times more money than we did at the same age (adjusted for inflation). Reverse the trend by rewarding responsible cash conduct. Set up a kiddie version of a 401(k) and offer to match money that they sock away for themselves and others (e.g., $0.50 for every dollar they save for themselves; a dollar-for-dollar match for money they raise for a good cause).

Let them pick a charity. Get online together and find a cause they can relate to. (Try charitynavigator.com and worldvision.org.) Or find a local charity and take your kids there to see first-hand how their bequests will help. Have them deliver the donations (cash, toys, clothes, etc.) themselves.

Show your gratitude for your family's gifts every day. The most powerful illustration of the good that comes from giving is gratitude. Share how grateful you are to be able to afford that flat-screen TV and how much you appreciate gifts (tangible and intangible) from others. Talk to them about how you are paying it forward (here are some ideas on how to do so) and openly share the joy you get from helping others. Being thankful is a lesson worth revisiting year-round.

As a young child, "sharing" was never Dayana's strong suit, according to her older brother. Thankfully, she grew out of her youthful bad behavior. Over at GreenLight.Fool.com she shares all her best money-saving, money-making ideas and encourages everyone to cheat off her homework.