Recently I have listened to Ariana Huffington’s Book, “Thrive.” She gives many examples of how service provides the giver with as much emotional goodness as the receiver. We have seen so many good examples of this in the last couple months. This is an important skill and behavior to teach your children even as young as three. You model this behavior. They then begin by serving you, their siblings and family.
Give them the emotional feedback for their help each an every time. Please don’t say just “Good Job.” Give them the emotional phrasing that builds a sense of self and confidence. “Thank you, for helping me pick up your toys. You are a great helper.” Then you ask them how it feels to help. They may reply “good”. Ask them why it felt good. And so the language of feelings and service become a part of your everyday life.
A family service project where everyone participates is a perfect way to spend quality time. It offers many opportunities for building the language of feelings and how we learn to feel our goodness.
Our children are our future. Reading and writing though very important…it isn’t the key to success.