How Generous Are Children?

WESTWOOD, MA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- October 20, 2006 -- Children are generous by nature, but during the holiday season they can be overwhelmed by greed. With so many advertisements focused on children, they can lose their natural balance. To counter the commercialism, the holiday season is an important time for parents to reawaken that natural spirit of giving in their children.

"Just as a well balanced diet helps children's bodies to develop healthfully, so too does encouraging a child's social/emotional relationship to giving and philanthropy impact their charitable impulses in later life," says Marcia Stankard, author of "The Spriitelees: A Christmas Tale About Kindness."

Stories of giving and sharing are one of the easiest and simplest ways for parents and teachers to use quality time in motivating ways. Stankard says, "We need to model ways for our children to act with intentional kindheartedness, strengthening their instincts to help others. There's no time like childhood to celebrate the importance of a small kind deed or gesture."

To tap into the essential sweet nature of children and to build their self-esteem, Stankard created The Spriitelees, "to help inspire children to not just read a book and put it away, but to read a book and jump off the sofa motivated to do kind things," says Stankard. Parents and teachers can encourage children to continue the Spriitelees' acts of kindness with a tear-out certificate at the end of the book, designating any child that completes three intentional kind acts an honorary Spriitelee. The word Spriitelee is spelled with two i's "because the motto of Spriitelees is, of course, 'every i makes a difference!'" says Stankard.

"Every toddler I have ever met is sprightly (Spriitelee), and yet so few adults retain that magical quality. We need to celebrate, and more important, cultivate, that quality in our children," says Stankard.

Children can "meet" the Spriitelees at www.spriitelee.com. With both a holiday book and website geared to children between the ages of 3 and 7, Stankard provides ideas and incentives for children to perform acts of kindness. The book benefits children's brain tumor research, a devastating diagnoses affecting 3,400 new children each year.

"The Spriitelees" can be purchased at www.amazon.com or www.spriitelee.com.

Contact Information: Contact: Laura Bianco 727-443-7115 ext. 204 laurab@event-management.com