24/7 MOMS: Raising a Charitable Child
I am lucky. Every day I get to work with people who spend a considerable amount of their time trying to better their community. When I was asked recently about my thoughts on raising a charitable child, I immediately though about the families I have seen using my site and the many ways busy parents can take the lessons I have learned and teach them to their children.
With the holiday season approaching, it is a great time to start new projects and to really drive home the lesson of volunteerism. Here are a few ways to set a good example for your kids, get them involved, and teach them about the importance of philanthropy.
WALK THE WALK
As a mom, I know that kids admire and want to emulate their parents, so getting kids to act in an empathic way can often be a natural result of simply watching how you treat and talk about others, whether it be taking the time to visit someone who is sick, donating to a cause you care about or defending someone who others are making fun of.
VOLUNTEER
With so many households being run by work-outside-the-home parents, people have less time today than ever. Sometimes even doing the research to find an appropriate volunteer project can be taxing and parents may not know that there are some simple volunteer opportunities available that can be rewarding, fun and provide a great opportunity to have a new experience with their kids.
Depending on the age of the child, the volunteerism will vary. It could be something simple from a trash cleanup that anyone can participate in to something more age appropriate. Something that little ones often shine at is visiting the sick and the elderly. Children are naturally empathetic and bring a lightness to these situations because they often don’t feel the heaviness of the environment the way adults do. Simply walking into a room, saying hello to the residents, or even playing games with them is enough to brighten someone’s day. Older children are often great at coming up with their own projects, whether it’s finding a local shelter that they want to volunteer with or identifying a need in the community that they would like to raise money for.
