Expecting too much? Part two

I spoke with a few friends today about my recent blog concerning Eli and his lack of enthusiasm over sharing numerous birthday presents with the needy (to sum it up quickly). I've realized that yes, maybe a seven/eight year old is too young to comprehend what "the needy" really looks like. And maybe I should have approached it differently. After we both had 24 hours to be apart from the subject and reflect I approached Eli again tonight. I told him I thought it was fine if he wanted to have his close buddies spend the night and they could bring something for him on his birthday. He smiled at that. Then I went on to discuss the big party with the other friend saying we could talk about what he would like to collect for a donation to give somewhere. He smiled again and said "ok." That's it! Ok! Well......... I'll be!
I know I sounded harsh in the last post and I am often very hard on my first born (don't we have a right to be as we try everything out on them and then figure it out the second go around?) I know Eli is a great kid. He is very kind to others and doesn't like to see people get hurt (except his little brother - we are working on that).
I realized though that Eli needs a more concrete picture of what the needy look like. He has our picture of Iddo on the fridge and gets letters from him every other month. Iddo is our Compassion sponsored child from Africa. But does Eli really get that Iddo is needy and that is why we send him money each month? My mom & sister had a great idea to visit a shelter and let Eli and the other friend see where kids have to stay with their family when they don't have a home. Visit a food pantry where families go to get a bag of groceries when they have no food at home. Maybe even go to a pound or animal shelter to see where animals that have no home are kept. Then he can decide what "cause" he would like to become a part of. So, I will keep you updated on how this progresses. It could get interesting!