Understanding that giving to others does not always have to be about giving money or “treasures”, but can be about giving of our talents can be very rewarding. This week I talked to our students about what they were good at that might be of value to another person. They had all sorts of ideas and they literally saw themselves being good at many different things, though most of them were physical activities (swimming, bike riding, monkey bars soccer). Soon though they began to realize that they also were good at drawing, singing, coloring, cooking, even teaching.
The next question is how can we use those talents to help others?Could they perform and entertain either to make money to be donated, or just to cheer someone else up? How could they use their love for animals to actually help those animals that had lost their home? What could they do a piece of art work for, how could it be used to make someone feel better?
Having discussions like this with our children begins to develop in them the desire to help others, to take the lead in charity events and find ways of giving back. Teaching our children that doing this sort of work demonstrates that we see the value in everyone of our fellow humans, despite the circumstances they find themselves in at this time.