I am a Rotarian and their creed is “Service Above Self”, thus for me it is important to be able to live this on a daily basis and also espouse it to my children with the hope that they will follow my example as they grow older.
Serving others can be as simple as doing something like what you see in the image above, or it can be giving your time to a child through Big Brothers/Big Sisters. No matter how you serve, it is important that your children see you doing this and understand why it is important. Too often in the media driven age that we live in, children fail to see the good in others and the good in reaching out and making a difference to people around them. Watching you as their parents, they will see either through overt or non-action what is important and will take your cue. Thus, if you can start instilling in your children at an early age that serving others in some way that is meaningful to them is positive and important, they will live a life of service as they grow into adulthood.
Some questions you should ask yourself include:
- How do you and your child serve others?
- What are some activities that you and your child can do together that will serve others in your community?
As you begin to answer these questions you may find it necessary to revisit them over time as your answers and definitely the answers about your children will change as you all change and grow.
In researching this topic I came across a few sites that I thought that I would share with all of you:
- http://www.scumdoctor.com/parenting/preschool/Teaching-Preschoolers-About-Serving-Others.html
- http://family.tips.net/Pages/T007010_Teaching_Children_to_Perform_Service.html
In what ways do you serve others on a daily/weekly basis and how do you share this with your kids?
