“The only way to have a friend is to be one.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson
No matter what the age of your children, there are many wonderful books that can inspire you and your family to find ways to give back in your community. One of the gentle souls who taught children (and adults) about many positive values such as kindness, generosity, and responsibility, was the late Fred Rogers, the star for 33 years of Mister Roger’s Neighborhood. What you may not know is that Rogers wrote more than 36 books, including The Giving Box: Create a Tradition of Giving with Your Children, based on the Jewish tradition of tzadakah, in which children save up coins for those in need. The book brings lessons of generosity and charity through stories from around the world, teaching how good it feels to give to those less fortunate and how even one child’s contribution can make a difference. Another inspirational choice by the same author is Many Ways to Say I Love You: Wisdom for Parents and Children from Mister Rogers which you can read for free on your kindle!
The other book that I think tackles this subject creatively is Pay It Forward, a fictional work by Catherine Ryan Hyde for teenagers and adults. The book, which I loved, was made into a movie of the same name in 2000 with Kevin Spacey, Helen Hunt and Haley Joel Osment. Although not given five stars by movie critics, this is a good family movie to start conversations about ways to give to others. The twelve year old boy in the story gets an assignment in school about ideas that could help change the world for the better. He comes up with the idea of doing someone a favor and rather than asking them to pay him back, he asks the receiver to “pay it forward” by giving help or doing a favor for three new people. This book or movie could be the springboard– and already has– for imagining all the creative ways that any one of us can make a difference in the world through acts of kindness and gnerosity.
This is the best way to help our youngsters find themselves…