“Give a man a fish & you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish & you feed him for a lifetime.”
How interesting a thought it is, isn’t it? Human beings have constantly found the requirement to evolve with time & to adapt to the surroundings by taking initiatives to bring in varieties and developments not only in the way we live but also in the way we think and understand our environment. Such attempts to make life quite often witness a trigger from our home circle. Man learns at every stage into observation, curiosity, responsibility, communication, authorized action & collaboration.
All these qualities drive human beings to look out for possibilities wherein they can volunteer in projects within a collaborative spirit to make society a better place with each new sunrise. As parents, elders & educators our role to secure the facilitation of the children to find numerous volunteer opportunities is different.
I place ‘parents’ at the top of this triangle as the primary education starts at home and it is from home wherever we draw our nurture for all activities. Educators are important stakeholders in this method and act as incentives to that effect.
Children are unique little artists. There is no pre-set manual on encouraging children to aid in projects as such. However, some helpful pointers in this regard as outlined under will certainly produce a ripple impact, eventually leading to a wave of opportunities consequently.
- Technology & social networking have taken the complete world by storm and revolutionized the process we looked at things even half a decade ago. Talking to our children as competent adult members is the need of the hour.
- This should not be confused with controlling them or making them feel as if they are following some surveillance. Instead, it is reasonable to make the children feel respected & trusted. Teenagers should be talked within and encouraged to launch campaigns to fight hate crimes and other unpleasant activities where streaks of any sort of bias are witnessed.
- Help children create a group of people who have some common vision & mission and push them to use social networks to spread information of diversity, inclusion, compassion, empathy & peace.
- Walk the talk. Practice what you teach as an adult. It could only start with showing your love & care for animals in the way of tending to an injured dog and taking it to a vet; to creating start-up clubs where animal benefits are promoted and discussed and cement steps are taken to ensure the safety of animals in their community & space. Slowly, a robust plan of action could be sketched & performed thereby.
- Children love challenges. Often the most bright sparks to volunteer in activities come from employing reversed psychology strategies. When you coyly tell 21st-century children that they are not competent in doing certain tasks, they take it up as a powerful challenge and attempt doing that among utmost dedication and honesty as if their life and reputation were dependent on it.
- Reward the children with special tokens of appreciation that will encourage them and furnish an impetus to continuing the pursuit of such missionary opportunities.
- As parents & educators, we must not forget our different roles and duties. Create and resurrect the culture of learning to your children. Some of the biggest life lessons, skills & values come to success when you engage your children in a reading activity at the most limited hour each day. This could be scheduled at your convenience.
- Teachers may read out in this form of classroom improvement sessions while parents should read out before bedtime. Readout stories of transformation plus episodes of engagement and dedication where single acts of bravado have revised the lifestyle and endurance strategies.
Let us all grow together to help the future of the world be the indications of a community where we just don’t talk about sustainability but redefine the core policies also philosophies of sustainable and empowered living. Each child is different. Each child has a myriad of ideas that need to be assigned a patient hearing. Each different idea can open up various possibilities to make this world a better place to live in.
