Did you know you can raise your kid with social responsibility? Your children are a product of what you teach them. If they see you throwing trash out the window and littering, they will believe this is acceptable behavior.
However, if you teach them that littering is wrong, they will see each piece of trash on the side of the road as a violation of moral responsibility towards Mother Earth. You have the instinct to bring good karma to your children by teaching them appropriate actions. When a person is socially responsible, they don’t just view their needs or wants, but they consider those around them.
How many times have you opened your mouth, and the words your parents used came flying out? Or maybe you have a specific tradition or thing you do just because your parents did things that way. You’re a product of your upbringing, so the burden of raising good children falls back on the parents.
Fifteen Easy Ways to Show Social Responsibility to Kids
The future of this country, your family traditions, and society depend on teaching social responsibility to your children. If you’re not sure how to do it, then here are 15 ways that you can model this behavior.
1. Ensure Their Carbon Footprint Online Is Positive
This tip is number one because it’s so important these days. You leave a digital footprint behind when you engage in online activities, specifically social media. Kids don’t realize that employers, colleges, and other family members are looking at this stuff and judging the content.
It’s essential to strive for positive social change, and before they post anything, they need to make sure it’s accurate, helpful, inspiriting to others, kind, and necessary. Being responsible goes beyond actions in the physical world, but it also affects the online one. Plus, they will be more positive when they start thinking more optimistically.
2. Focus on Empowerment as You Model Social Responsibility
If you clean your child’s room for them every day, they will never learn how to make a bed, pick up toys, and do everything to keep their space tidy. Most parents do it because they don’t want to hear the whining or do it right. However, if you do everything for them, you’re not empowering them to tackle these tasks.
The three-year-old who won’t pick up his toys becomes the teenager who leaves dirty dishes lying everywhere. What you engrain into their brains from the cradle sticks with them. If you want to create socially concerned individuals, you must empower them.
3. Encourage Self-Reliance
Do you assign chores to your kids? Sure, you want your child to live in a comfortable home and have a few luxuries, but it’s also essential that you teach them the value of hard work. When children do not clean up after themselves and help around the house, they become careless.
You want them to understand how hard it is to clean the house, so make them pitch in and help. To create self-reliant adults, you must start teaching them as a child.
4. Model Generosity and Accountability as a Form of Social Responsibility
How do you show love to your kids? Here are a few things you do that can show them your love:
- Ensuring they have clean clothes.
- Cooking for them.
- Providing a safe haven.
- Hugging and kissing them.
- Telling them how much you love them.
- Placing little notes that show you’re thinking of them in their lunch boxes.
There are so many ways that you can show love. However, remember that your children are always watching you. They see you and what you do behind closed doors. Generosity is like a highway that goes both ways; what you put into them will surely come out.
If you’re wrong, be adult enough to admit it to them, and they will feel free to do the same. Making being vulnerable part of your family culture increases social responsibility.
5. Teach the “We” Mentality
Sports is an excellent way to teach children the importance of teamwork. Take, for instance, the Chicago Bulls. During the 1990s, this team won six championships, and they had a strong camaraderie among them. Though they had greats like Michael Jordan, who was at the height of his 15-year career, it took all the players to pull off these fantastic wins.
According to Essentially Sports, it took all the team, including Scotty Pippen, Dennis Rodman, and Jordan. Sure, these men had a rivalry that kept things hopping, but without each other, they could have never pulled off such a feat.
In life, your children need the help of others. There’s no way they can do everything alone, so teach them to develop that “We” mentality.
6. Social Responsibility Might Feel Overwhelming, But It’s a Must
Raising children is overwhelming, but it’s challenging to teach your kids life skills on top of being a socially conscious person. It would be best if you had time for breaks and fun.
You can’t work 24×7, and you can’t expect your kids to either. Let them see you laugh and have a good time with them, as you don’t want to be a drill sergeant always in combat mode.
7. Delegate Family Contributions
You must teach your kids that your family unit can only function if each person does their part. This goes beyond chores and teaches them how to run a household. Both boys and girls should learn how to run the washer and dryer, cut grass, and cook in the kitchen.
You’re empowering them to stand on their own two feet, and you’re showing them that it takes many parts to keep your household running smoothly. Plus, they will feel a sense of importance knowing they contribute.
8. Show the Beauty of Volunteering
It’s a beautiful thing to help others. There will be a time in your life when you will be on the giving end, and there will be other times when you will be the recipient. Your children need you to open their eyes to the world around them, both the good and the bad.
You can let them help in a food pantry, serve in a soup kitchen, do charity events around your hometown, and allow them to engage with people who have less than them. It teaches them that not everyone lives as they do, and they learn to appreciate and understand others.
9. Find Answers Together
You don’t have all the answers, nor will you ever. Teach your kids that it’s okay not to know it all. Together, you can find answers to things that trouble them. Don’t ever let on like you have all the keys to solve their problems, but rather show them your vulnerability and search for solutions together.
10. Teach Gratitude as Social Responsibility
You must teach your children to count their blessings. There’s always a family who would love to have the things you’ve attained. Being grateful and having a positive attitude aren’t the only important things, but kids need to empathize with those around them.
If you want them to be good citizens and have some social responsibility, you will teach them to have an attitude of gratitude.
11. Recycle at Home
Recycling is such a small thing that you do each day, but it significantly impacts the environment. Did you know that the average person dumps 728,000 tons of trash each year? This equates to 4.4 tons a day, according to Save Energy.
The article says that more than 22 billion plastic water bottles are dumped in landfills annually. Teaching your kids to recycle is imperative, and it has social effects as it preserves for the next generation.
12. Keep Them in the Loop
The world can be a scary place, but it’s much more terrifying when they find out stuff from other people. Please make sure you tell them stuff that’s happening around them, but you can control how it’s said. They need to be aware of things, as you can’t keep them in the dark.
13. Teach Them the Value of Money
One of the best things you can do for your kids is to teach them the value of money. Did you know that 1.5 million people file for bankruptcy each year, according to Legal Jobs? Some people have circumstances out of their control, like job loss or health issues. However, many people don’t know how to manage their money. Teaching them how to save for a rainy day and the value of each penny encourages social responsibility towards finances.
14. Use Stories to Teach Selflessness
The best way to get through to your kids is by using stories. Why are cartoons so popular among kids? It’s because they can relate to them and these likable characters.
Read stories to your kids with valuable meanings with a good tale mixed in. Once their pass the bedtime tales age, try sharing with them stories that show kindness and love towards others.
15. Teach Altruism
The values that you ingrain into your kids will be what they imitate once they become adults. Try doing little exercises that help to teach them the importance of humanity. Make sure that you keep each promise you make, and they need to see some consistency in your behavior.
Don’t make a rule one day that you override the next. Consistency in parenting is essential for teaching solid values and producing dependable kids.
Final Thoughts on How to Model Social Responsibility
While your kids should be concerned about saving the rainforest or making significant differences in the world, many small things can also have a considerable impact. Social responsibility occurs when you teach small things that can be done each day.
Some of the best seeds they can sow in their garden are things like generosity, kindness, responsibility, and a good conscience. When you put a little extra effort into your children, they will be a positive person, and compassionate citizen who wants to make the world a better place.
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