3 Tips To Raising Caring Kids
Parenting is the most all inclusive task I’ve ever experienced. I don’t pray about anything as much as I pray about and over and around my kids. Whether it is their friends, their future spouses, or that they genuinely fall in love with Jesus, my kids consume my prayer time. Lately, I’ve been praying that they will become caring kids, people who see a hurting world and run toward it in love and sincerity. Here’s 3 tips for all of us to raise caring kids.
- Place them in situations to learn from others and use situations as lessons.
While a lot of what is being said about our children’s generation is negative, I believe it’s because they haven’t been given the opportunity to show what mark they are yet going to leave on the world. We are parents and role models are also not doing a good job of using situations as learning opportunities.
A few weeks ago, as we were returning home from a soccer game, our elderly neighbor was mowing her lawn with a push mower. We had noticed on our way to the game, she had mowed only two strips of her tiny yard and had abandoned the job due to the heat. I also assume it was also from exhaustion.
My husband pointed out the situation to our 8 year old. “Son, did you see that our neighbor only mowed a piece of her yard today? Do you think there is something we might do to help?” The two of them discussed what might be done, but it was my son who suggested that we approach the neighbor and offer to mow her yard every week.
Talk about a proud mama moment!
- Find service opportunities, individually and for the whole family.
“Busy” is everyone’s new favorite 4-letter word. It plagues all of us. With sports and work and trying to make family time and eat looking at one another’s faces several times a week, we are always on the go. As a family of four, we talk often about what is important to us and how we spend time together. One of the things we are passionate about is helping others out.
While my daughter has several friends that she spends time with outside of school in order to build up their self-esteem (why are our kiddos plagued with this so often these days?), I write for several organizations dear to my heart. But at least three times a year, we find some sort of service opportunity to serve alongside one another.
Whether it is baking turkeys for Thanksgiving dinner at the local homeless shelter or taking food our closest animal shelter, we move our muscles together. Allowing our kids to see us working together for something else than just our family or our home, opens their eyes to what is happening in lives around them.
If you are falling short of ideas about what to do with your kids, call your local animal shelter. They are always looking for someone to volunteer to walk the dogs and scratch the kitties! Your local food bank may offer family nights, where you all can pack boxes of food set to be delivered.
- Let them see you out of your comfort zone.
Parenting can often be more of a “kids do what I say” activity than us parents getting our elbows deep in situations. Instead of telling my kids about the children we serve in Ethiopia and Uganda, I let them see me pray, fundraise and work to make life better for people we’ve never met. When those situations become stressful and require extra prayer, I invite my kids into that experience with me.
I want them to know that I will mess up; I might fail, and it’s okay. Having vulnerable moments with your kids allows them to care about the things you care about and may even turn into another teachable moment to raising caring kids.
I’d love to know your suggestions about how you are raising caring kids. Leave me a comment and let me know.
Lindsey Andrews can be found on Facebook and her website.
Leave a Reply