Need a little pick me up today? Watch this adorable video on TakePart.com of 5th Grader, Damon Weaver, interviewing President Obama. Damon asks the President about education reform, school lunches, and my favorite question, "I notice as President that you get bullied a lot. How do you handle it?"
How awesome is it that the adults in his life gave him the support, skills and encouragement he needed to have this experience? If you have a child in your life who wants to make the world a better place, how do you support him or her?
Here are a few ideas:
1. Volunteer with them. If you use the advanced search option on VolunteerMatch.com, you can find volunteer opportunities that are good for kids and/or teens.
2. Help them find biographical and autobiographical books, movies, and TV shows about inspiring people like Listen to the Wind, the children's version of the adult bestseller, Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time. There is also a young reader version, Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Journey to Change the World...One Child at a Time.
3. Find programs that help young people make a difference like Common Cents' Penny Harvests or Do Something.
4. Write letters to your government officials (federal, state and local) together. Have fun with it. Encourage them to create "mail art" and decorate the paper and envelopes.
5. Talk about local, national and international current events. They can also read and listen to news as reported by young people on the UNICEF podcast and TIME for Kids.
I'd love to hear your ideas about how to support children who want to make the world a better place.
Below are a few related posts and articles:
- Volunteering with your Family on Idealist.org
- Volunteer Vacation for the Whole Family on momlogic
- How to Teach Children About Congress on eHow
- A list of life-shaping books for children by Kathleen McGinnis on Sojourners
- 40 Books about Peace and Social Justice by Megan Schliesman for Cooperative Children's Book Center
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As a mom and a teacher, I LOVE this. I'd add also taking the time to answer, really answer, kids' questions, especially the 'why' and 'why not' ones. And if you don't know, to find out together. Often, my oldest son will challenge, in his 3-year-old way, aspects of the status quo to which adults have become accustomed, and we need that jolt to imagine a different way.
ReplyDeleteGreat idea, Melinda. It's true, young people have amazing ways of looking and re-looking at the world.
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