My mother always said that little pictures had big ears. She was right that children hear everything that we say whether we want them to or not. What she didn’t know was that children also notice everything that we do whether good or bad.
Your child will notice when you drive too fast just as your child will notice when you help an elderly person at the market with an item they can’t reach . Your child sees you giving bringing canned goods for a food drive to feed the less fortunate. She sees you bringing food to your neighbor who just had surgery and can’t cook for her family too. Your offers to take your parents to the doctor or to take care of a neighbor’s cat while your neighbor is on vacation do not go un-noticed by your child either.
A child of 3 years can start with small acts of kindness for others such as helping you to get the mail for a neighbor or feeding her cat. Your 4 year old can help you bake cookies or brownies for a friend who has just lost a family member. The seven year old can help serve food at a homeless shelter with you and your family. All children can go through their closet yearly to give the things that they don’t wear or use to others who can use them more.
When you and your child do these things together or with the rest of the family, you are teaching your child to be grateful for what they have, to be empathetic and to be charitable toward others. These things can’t be taught by talking or from a book, but only by example, and by doing them together. In this way, you teach your child the value of being charitable, empathetic towards others and gratitude for what they have that others may not. These lessons will last a lifetime because they were taught not only by watching, but by doing with you. Some of the best memories are made this way.