By Renee Martinez, Founder of Raising Boys World
Last night I went to a fundraising dinner for the Kidney Foundation. There was a 7 year-old boy at the event that received a kidney transplant. Seeing him made me think about my sons and how lucky we are to have healthy children. They don’t realize how lucky they are.
What is the best way to teach children about importance of sharing? We all want to raise our sons to be good contributing members of society. To be a good citizen, a person must think about others in a way that doesn’t benefit them, but gives them a sense feeling good about helping someone else. It’s important to teach our children to share, beyond just their toys with friends at a play date. Teaching our children that sharing with people outside of our family network who might need their help builds responsibility and awareness. Boys, in my opinion tend to be less likely to want to help in a philanthropic way. Girls tend to be more nurturing and therefore can take on the role of giver easier. I think it’s important that we facilitate opportunities for our sons to contribute to our society more. It’s important they are compassionate and thinking beyond just their existence. It build’s a greater self-worth, self-esteem and personal satisfaction knowing you’ve helped someone. If you teach them philanthropy in an abstract and unrelated cause, it will be more difficult to understand. For example, if your son takes swim lessons, you could suggest volunteering or donating to a local organization that offers swim lessons to underprivileged children. The idea of a poor or sick person to a child is really abstract. Children know that poor or sick means less or in a hospital, but they might ask questions such as: how much less, or does it hurt? How hard would it really be? What are the differences between less fortunate kids and me?
On the way home from the supermarket, my son was talking about a boy we saw in a wheelchair. The boy had used breathing apparatus and was communicating with his mother in a very loud manner. This troubled my son, made him curious and sad all at the same time. He wanted to know what was wrong with the boy and when he’d be able to get out of the wheelchair and play. It provided me with an opportunity to talk about disabilities and how we could help. We decided to see if there are any hockey programs for kids with disabilities. Once they understand and have benefited from feeling good about being a good citizen, then you can talk to them about sharing with more abstract causes. Get your son involved in a local walk for a good cause or help out at a soup kitchen. It’s a great way to connect with your son and with the community.
Check out these links for some ideas:
About the Author: Renee Martinez consults and speaks professionally on social media marketing, integrated marketing communications, public relations and branding. She is the president of Ruby Marketing Communications (www.rubymarcom.com), a boutique marketing communications company that specializes in providing branding, social media strategy and integration, and creative services. Her blog (www.lisac95.sg-host.com), provides resources on everything marketing and social media for her active audience.
Renee has contributed as a featured monthly columnist in the monthly jewelry industry publication, JCK, on matters related to internet marketing as well as in InStore Magazine as a featured blogger where she writes about developing effective marketing strategies for the jewelry industry using social media. She is the founder of: Social Media Biz Summit (www.socialmediabizsummit.com), the first large-scale SM conference to come to Buffalo, NY; #jewelrychat, a weekly twitter chat for the jewelry industry and www.RaisingBoysWorld.com. Renee teaches social marketing courses at Canisius College in Buffalo, NY for the business school as well as offers small group social media marketing training and educational seminars for businesses in Western New York and beyond.
Renee has dabbled in the internet marketing arena since the early 90′s and is not ashamed to call herself a “marketing geek”. From chatting in AOL, “sharing” music on Napster, and teaching HTML classes before it was considered “cool” to developing comprehensive social media strategies, effective public relations campaigns and managing online communities (most recently Chevy Girls Buffalo).
She enjoys being able to help people find their voice online and to create buzz about their product or service that will give them the results they desire.
Renee can be found on Twitter (@reneemmartinez) and Facebook (http:/www.facebook.com/RubyMarCom).
