Her Christian faith influences how Melissa Joan Hart, her family give back
Hart on raising her sons to not be spoiled
Melissa Joan Hart spoke with Fox News Digital about the importance of teaching her three young sons to give back and not be spoiled.
Melissa Joan Hart doesn't need witchcraft to raise her family right.
A far cry from her time as "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" on television, Hart says her priority is showing her sons, Mason, Braydon and Tucker, who she shares with husband of 20 years, Mark Wilkerson, how to not be spoiled.
"Of course, when you have children, you want to give them everything," she told Fox News Digital. "For lack of a better word, you want to spoil [them]. Like you want them to have every day be Disneyland, right?"
MELISSA JOAN HART SAYS SHE AND HUSBAND OF NEARLY 20 YEARS 'CONSISTENTLY' GO TO COUPLES THERAPY
Melissa Joan Hart shared a photo from her trip to Zambia with her three sons. (Melissa Joan Hart Instagram)
"It's hard to make sure you're teaching them … how to grow up with the right amount of struggles. …There are so many worries and things that, of course, are plaguing our world right now. But I just think if you show them love, even if you don't have all the things, right? If you just show your kids love, I've come to this conclusion, it starts with that. If you teach your kids love, you show them that they are loved and supported, they will share that with the rest of the world. And that's all we need right now."
Hart, who is an ambassador for the Christian relief program called World Vision and recently visited Zambia with her husband and sons, is instilling the importance of giving into her children: "I think a lot of it comes from just reminding them of their circumstances and showing them the rest of the world … and the way other people live. Whether it's next door or it's across the globe."
WATCH: MELISSA JOAN HART ON RAISING HER SONS TO NOT BE SPOILED
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"We've been really fortunate to work with World Vision for a few years now and show them different, very faraway parts of the world and how people live very differently, from what they eat, to how they go to school, to how they sleep," she says of exposing her sons to different life circumstances.
"Tomorrow, though, my boys are going to the nearby food bank to go pack boxes for Middle Tennessee," the Nashville resident explained. "Just little things like that, a few hours here and there and just telling them, you know, it's not the end of the world. If you take a few hours out of your day to help out and to go out and see people in all different circumstances, whether it's, you know, you're walking around and you see a homeless person or you're talking to someone on the street."
"Down here in Tennessee, we have a newspaper that they sell on the side of the road, and it's $2. And so I always keep rolls of $2 in my car. … If the person's on the passenger side, I'll have my son roll down the window and hand it to them and say, ‘God bless you,’" she said. "Wherever we can, helping out and just teaching them not to be spoiled is very tricky. It is very tricky. But it is, you know, something we strive for every day," she said of parenting her sons. Her faith also has a direct influence in how she's raising them.
WATCH: MELISSA JOAN HART SHARES HOW HER FAITH IMPACTS GIVING BACK WITH HER SONS
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"There is a lot of outreach through churches and, you know, and they learn a lot there as well. But, you know, a big part of it is just letting people know they're loved. And I think our faith is a big part of that," she said. "We're Christian. And so we are shown love through Jesus, and then we share that love."
In Zambia, Hart and her family visited three separate families who were in different stages of receiving humanitarian aid from World Vision. Hart sponsors a family of three girls, who she calls the family's "sponsor sisters" who are of similar ages to her sons.
Melissa Joan Hart and her husband, Mark Wilkerson, pose for a photo in Africa. (Melissa Joan Hart Instagram)
"We first started with a family that was really struggling. I mean, had not been in the program but a few days. So, they had not received any of the benefits. They did not have clean water nearby. They did not have access to food," she said of one family in Zambia.
"Wherever we can, helping out and just teaching them not to be spoiled is very tricky. It is very tricky. But it is, you know, something we strive for every day."
— Melissa Joan Hart
"There was a lot to learn there and a lot to see to go collect the water for them and then have it be really, really dirty. My kids were really aware of how dirty their water was. They didn't have shoes. They barely had clothes that weren't torn. … And then to go to see our girls that we sponsored there for the last four years and to see how they were that way … they had those same struggles. Now they have a well nearby. … They had chickens, and they had a thriving farm because they were taught by World Vision how to farm, not just like given food, but how to farm. They teach them to be sustainable and World Vision did this amazing thing. And we could really see this just how sustainable it was because the third day we went to see a family who was basically, you know, the wealthiest in the area. … They have cattle. Their kids go to school and thrive in school. They have a great school, they have clean clothes, they have fresh water. They have all the food they could need, and then they sell it, the rest of it."
WATCH: MELISSA JOAN HART TALKS ABOUT HER TRIP TO ZAMBIA WITH WORLD VISION
"So, you know, to see these three different families in three different phases of the program … World Vision just does such an amazing job of teaching people how to take care of themselves, how to better their lives, how to better their neighbors, how to share it."
Hart is passionate about the organization, telling Fox News Digital that "for people that don't get to go see the work, I can tell you it's amazing. I can tell you that when you send – when you sponsor a child … it is improving their life by, I mean, 100%. It is saving that child's life. It is saving their family. It is saving their village."
Melissa Joan Hart shows off her Beads of Blessing bracelet offered in the World Vision gift catalog. (World Vision)
In partnership with World Vision, Hart is also offering a Beads of Blessing bracelet, which is offered in this year's gift catalog. The jewelry is made by female artisans in Africa who receive the profits directly. Hart says each year she uses the catalog as an opportunity to buy gifts for everyone, including her mail carrier and teachers.
"Sponsoring a child or buying a gift goes a long, long way."
Caroline Thayer is an entertainment writer for Fox News Digital. Follow Caroline Thayer on Twitter at @carolinejthayer. Story tips can be sent to
