We spent several hours on the internet today, getting educated. We looked up statistics (mathy kid) regarding starvation in children. We looked at images and read stories. We talked about social responsibility. He watched an interview with an charitable organization that is run by a child not much older than he is. He designed a donation bottle for the table at the preschool to see if he can collect money for the foodbank. He wrote an essay on how important it is to be grateful. He worked really hard.
I think these activities are a great start, and what fabulous ideas! I'm going to try these with my ds6. I think it's pretty typical to be self absorbed and egocentric at 6. I know my child is emotionally sensitive and that he does empathize a great deal with others, but he often manages to relate it to himself in some way. It's very developmentally appropriate IMHO. It's definitely our job as parents to teach social responsibility, but at this age, it's just a start. All they know how to do is understand the world as it relates to themselves. For example, if I tell my son that a family friend is sick and in the hospital, he says, "that's so sad. Is it something I could get? It won't happen to me, will it?"
That said, here's what we do: we visit nursing homes and assisted living facilities (take gifts, go play games with the residents, or just talk with them); we donate our old toys to a sharing center (he likes to go by and see if anyone has bought his toys-they are greatly reduced in price); we say prayers each night and always pray for those who are "hungry, lonely, hurting, afraid, and/or homeless"; we are also starting a pen pal program with a child from a different culture; we always give money to the people begging on the side of the road-I know some people don't agree with this, but we know we have good intentions and I think it teaches our son compassion for others; also, we do random acts of kindness so that our son can see how good it feels to do something nice for someone else (pay a toll for the car behind us, pay for a shoppers groceries, buy the coffee for the person behind us at the coffee shop, give up a seat on the airport shuttle or amusement park, share our lunch or snacks with others at the park, etc). Because we spent so much time in nursing homes, my son now will walk away from me in a grocery store if he sees an elderly person carrying anything. He'll go ask if he can carry it for them or hold their hand. LOL
My son's biological father, who passed away when ds was a baby, spent a year teaching 5th grade to underpriveleged children. He started a program called "Operation Covert Kindness." Once a month, his class would choose an activity like making ice cream sundaes, popping popcorn, making greeting cards, etc. Then they'd get to choose whether to keep them or give them to another class. They always chose to give them away because they had so much fun surprising another class with a treat. They'd quietly walk into another class (unannounced), not say a word, and give a treat to each student. Then the last child out of the room would leave a note on the teachers desk that said, "you've just been hit by Operation Covert Kindness." They even had a little sign language "gang sign," OCK. It was a great lesson for all of them. I worked at the same school at the time, and it was amazing to see how excited they were to do something nice for others. It made me cry every time they did it! I try to find little ways to incorporate that into our lives in our community.
Thanks for starting this thread. I'd like to hear some other ideas as well.
