In the urban, developed world that we live in today, nuclear
families are the order of the day; the joint family system is passé. Most are single-child families or at the most
have two children. It is no wonder then
that children learn to live by themselves and ‘for’ themselves. Their perspective is limited to “me, mine and
myself”. In this scenario, how do we
help a child to learn to be more tolerant and community-friendly?
Here are some of the things that we could do -
·
As the saying goes, “charity begins at home”;
likewise, as parents we need to set the right example. We have to practice what we want our child to
learn. Hence, our children should see us
as people who care; who offer help to the needy; who take part in community
programmes and who follow rules and are law abiding citizens.
·
We must get our children to share his/ her toys
and books with friends and cousins.
Also, if the maid or driver has a young kid, we could get our children
to help them with their homework.
·
We must encourage our children to take part in
community services in and around our locality.
This could be in the form of
Ø
Keeping the locality clean -not throw garbage
(chocolate paper, banana peel, etc) on the road, not urinate in the open..
Ø
Spread awareness around garbage segregation
·
We must encourage our children to form and
express their opinion about social matters – like when they notice someone not
following traffic rules, or disobeying the law, they can voice their opinion
and talk to an adult about it. This way,
they will also learn to differentiate ‘right’ from ‘wrong’.
·
We should explain the importance of
non-renewable and limited natural resources and get our children to save on
fuel, electricity and water.
Thus, it is imperative that we become good role models for
our children – more can be learnt from seeing rather than from just
preaching. Our children can then learn
to say “we, us and ours” and become empathetic, humble and socially committed
citizens.
Lawrence High School, located at HSR layout, Bangalore,
focuses on educating children with traditional values to adapt and excel in the
world. To know more about Lawrence school, please visit the website http://lawrenceschool.in/ and join us
at our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lawrence-School/
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