4-H Newsletter May 2012

4-H Youth Development is all about teaching youth life skills for their future.  Helping kids share their good fortune with others through community service may be the most important money lesson of all!

All kids are born with an innate sense of charity and compassion. Sure, it’s easy to lose sight of that fact as we listen to kids clamor for the hottest toys, tastiest treats, and trendiest clothes. But if we look closely, the signs are everywhere. Watch a 2-year-old stop to offer a wailing baby a comforting toy, or catch a 5-year-old consoling a pal who has just been walloped by a playground bully.

“Children naturally look for ways to make a contribution and help others,” says Deborah Spaide, founder of Kids Care Clubs, a national organization based that provides information on community-service projects for youngsters. “But just as we give our children opportunities to use their legs when they’re learning to walk, we need to give them opportunities to exercise their charitable muscles so they become really good at giving too.”

The benefits of actively fostering children’s charitable impulses are enormous. Besides helping counter the overdeveloped “gimme” impulse, it gives kids a powerful boost in self-esteem to realize they can make a difference in someone else’s life. “And as corny as it sounds,” says Patricia Schiff Estess, a New York City writer and the author of Kids, Money & Values, “when you help a child help others, you are helping to create a better world.” Here are some ways to go about “Making the Best Better”:

BE HANDS-ON: Most people tend to associate charity with giving money. We write a check to our favorite cause, drop a few dollars in the basket at church, participate in school fund-raisers, and feel good about our efforts. But preadolescent children may have trouble understanding such an abstract concept as donating money to a worthy cause. “It’s hard for kids to grasp that the money is going to, say, buy bread, which in turn will help feed ten homeless people,” says Spaide. “Many children can’t take the process that many steps forward in their minds.” Instead let kids experience charitable giving firsthand. Even Cloverbuds can help bag lunches for a soup kitchen, distribute socks to the people in a homeless shelter, or clean someone’s yard.  In choosing a project, try following your child’s lead and interests. The more you let youth direct the process, the greater the involvement they’ll feel and the more they’ll learn from the experience.

SEIZE THE MOMENT: You don’t need to set aside a special time to talk about the importance and joy of giving. Opportunities pop up all the time. Passing a homeless person might be a good occasion to talk about the fact that some families don’t have enough money to pay for a place to live. Visiting an elderly or ailing relative might be the right moment to discuss how important it is to reach out to people in need. Says Spaide, “The idea isn’t just to sensitize your child to some of the pain and suffering in the world, but to give her the great gift of thinking that she has the power to help make it better.”

PRACTICE WHAT YOU PREACH: As with everything else in life, kids learn best by example. Show and explain everyday acts of kindness. If you’re taking a meal to a friend who has just gotten out of the hospital, say so. If you help raise funds for worthy causes through your 4-H club, talk about it! If you give money to an organization you believe in, explain why doing so is important to you.

Community Service is great for adults too! Busy adult leaders and volunteers who may find it hard to devote time to worthy causes outside their own home may well discover that teaching kids to give back to the community is an ideal way to get back in touch with their own charitable impulses. “We call it trickle-up charity,” says Spaide. “The effort starts with the kids, but the adults often get the biggest payoff of all.”

By, Diane Harris

Adapted From: http://www.parenting.com/article/teaching-your-child-charity?page=0,1

May 2012  (pdf, 8 pages, 284 KB)