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A Good Citizen
Encouraging Citizenship in Our Children and Ourselves
By Heather V. Long
"One of the real tragedies is that radical or hate groups indoctrinate their children very early in life because they can see their parents' passion and involvement with the causes they champion," says Billingham. "If we can have parents devote that kind of devotion to more positive aims, it will have the same effect."
Between work, carpools, schooling, after-school activities and housework, how can we as parents teach these broad-based ideas to our children? Exactly how we would any other project we want to tackle. Again, we start small. We encourage our children to write letters to Santa Claus in the winter, so why not ask if they want to write a letter to one of the soldiers around the world who is far from home and might be lonely?
"It reminds children of how big the world is," says Billingham. "You don't have to overwhelm them with why the soldiers are there, but [compassion] for these strangers who are far away is a simple, easy method to help them think beyond themselves."
Parks and recreation programs often offer programs where you can help volunteer. Girl Scouts of America along with Boy Scouts of America and numerous other such programs exist to help promote volunteerism and understanding. "But you can also do something as simple as take your kids to a zoo and show them the animals," says Billingham. "Read to them about where the animals come from, what the conditions are like and share this information. It's even better if you have access to a zoo with displays like maps and globes to help children envision the world better."