On the tenth anniversary of September 11th I wrote an article for West Hollywood Patch about a local resident who had many personal connections to the disaster in New York on 9/11/2001 and continues to thank her local fire department and police every year on 9/11.
We seem to need holidays and anniversaries to remind us to give back. Social media allows us to take actions everyday by clicking to give and posting to spread the word.
But how do we as parents help children to give back that's live and in person? Do we model giving food or money to the homeless person on the corner? I like to bring my son with me for a few hours while I sign voters in and out on election day. Maybe he can't vote but he can hand out stickers.
After attending a fund raiser a few years ago for Project Angel Food, I inquired whether I could bring my kindergartener to help make food or perhaps distribute food to their clients. They informed me that, alas, there were age requirements but they encouraged school children to decorate bags for holidays and birthdays. For my son that wasn't enough, before we knew it he had arranged for all three kindergarten classes to decorate bags. We brought them to the volunteer headquarters and they most graciously gave him a tour of their kitchen (which for a kindergartner was quite an exciting event). He was so proud that one day during first grade he informed me that he'd already spoken to his teacher about doing so, again. And he has made it his personal mission every year and I've become the taxi driver, of sorts. And proud to let him do so.
Giving can take you by surprise. A few years ago my son wanted to put up a last minute lemonade stand. Worried that it was too late in the day and not on a high traffic street I encouraged him to offer to donate a percentage of his proceeds to a good cause. He decided he wanted to donate it to his public school. We put that on the sign and many more people stopped. Traffic workers, neighbors and good samaritans paid way over the asking price knowing that a percentage was going back to the local school. The next time we did it we had to add a variety of baked goods. Just last week, my son was having a play date and he and his friend decided not only to have a lemonade stand but to sell old toys, as well. This time they were giving 100% of the proceeds to St. Jude Children's Hospital. A prouder mother there never was and he had passed that great feeling of giving onto another child and family.
But how do we as parents help children to give back that's live and in person? Do we model giving food or money to the homeless person on the corner? I like to bring my son with me for a few hours while I sign voters in and out on election day. Maybe he can't vote but he can hand out stickers.
After attending a fund raiser a few years ago for Project Angel Food, I inquired whether I could bring my kindergartener to help make food or perhaps distribute food to their clients. They informed me that, alas, there were age requirements but they encouraged school children to decorate bags for holidays and birthdays. For my son that wasn't enough, before we knew it he had arranged for all three kindergarten classes to decorate bags. We brought them to the volunteer headquarters and they most graciously gave him a tour of their kitchen (which for a kindergartner was quite an exciting event). He was so proud that one day during first grade he informed me that he'd already spoken to his teacher about doing so, again. And he has made it his personal mission every year and I've become the taxi driver, of sorts. And proud to let him do so.
Giving can take you by surprise. A few years ago my son wanted to put up a last minute lemonade stand. Worried that it was too late in the day and not on a high traffic street I encouraged him to offer to donate a percentage of his proceeds to a good cause. He decided he wanted to donate it to his public school. We put that on the sign and many more people stopped. Traffic workers, neighbors and good samaritans paid way over the asking price knowing that a percentage was going back to the local school. The next time we did it we had to add a variety of baked goods. Just last week, my son was having a play date and he and his friend decided not only to have a lemonade stand but to sell old toys, as well. This time they were giving 100% of the proceeds to St. Jude Children's Hospital. A prouder mother there never was and he had passed that great feeling of giving onto another child and family.
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