The holidays are a time of giving; however, most kids get caught up in the spirit of receiving more than the spirit of giving. Toddlers can be particularly difficult to teach about giving and community service because of their limited perception of the world. Case in point, when we made a cross country move we decided to donate all of nonperishable food items to an emergency food pantry. I tried to explain to my 2.5 year old why we were giving away the food, but he clearly did not understand. We had given food to the pantry before so the experience was not completely new to him, but I know he can’t understand going hungry because we have always been fortunate enough to have food.
Instead of trying to explain such an abstract concept to my toddler, I tried changing my approach. He already has a good concept of sharing so we started there. I told him that we need to share our food. I told him we already had more than enough food. I asked him what food we “needed.” He responded with “cereal.” I told him since we “needed” cereal that we would keep it. Then, we took the rest of the food out of the trunk and gave it to the food pantry since we did not “need” the food. My son went home happy with his cereal and a little better understanding of sharing with those in need. Today, he puts food aside in a box at home that we don’t “need.” When the box is full, we will take it to another emergency food pantry. He is not solving world hunger over night, but I am making progress towards teaching my son about living in a society as a whole and how we are all connected. To teach your little one about community service follow these steps:
1. Start with a concept that they already understand like sharing or cleaning up a mess.
2. Build upon the concept by putting the already understood concept into a larger scope. For example, we don’t just share food with our friends, but we share food with other people who need it. Another example would be, we don’t just clean the mess in our room, but we clean the mess in the park so everyone can play at the park.
3. Involve your toddler in the decision making process. Let your little one decide which area of the park to clean up or what type of food to donate to the food pantry.
4. Perform the community service with your toddler.
5. Develop a long term plan for community service to help reinforce the new concept. For example, you could clean a section of the park once a week or you could set aside one can of food for the food pantry once a week.
It takes time to teach your toddler about community service, so don’t get frustrated if they don’t seem to understand right away. Persistence is vital in teaching a new concept. Happy parenting!
