Teaching your children about “the joy of giving” can empower
them with important life lessons
Teachers at Mount Litera Zee School have always seen the world
through the eyes of our children. Because children always take an uncomplicated
view of life and truly they are our only hope for the future.
Our EVS teacher for Grade 3, Ms. Joice, shares an incident highlighting
this very fact that took place a few weeks ago. We hope it opens our eyes to
the most basic characteristics that we are all born with; charity and
compassion.
Ms. Joice has always marveled at the fact that how every time
she helped a person in need, it gave her more satisfaction and joy than when
she acquired something new. The following story is narrated by her in her own
words.
I was out with my son one day and saw him giving 200 rupees to a poor
man who was without legs, from his pocket money. He had been collecting it to
buy a remote control car for himself. Intrigued by this action, I asked him why
he did it (considering there was no prompting from my side to precipitate this
action). His immediate reply was “Mum imagine if I was born like that person
without legs, would you not have supported me? I kept myself in that person’s shoes.
It must be so painful for him, so I thanked God for my two legs and gave him
all my pocket money” I was speechless. I saw true happiness and joy in my son’s
eyes. He wasn’t scared, in fact he looked happy. He just said “Mum I don’t regret
giving him that money because that uncle cried and thanked me. Don’t worry its
fine even if I don’t get a remote control car.”
Children are born with an innate sense of charity and
compassion. This may not sound quite true when your kids are hankering after
the newest toys and the sweetest candy in store, but look closely. You will see
signs of compassion ever so often. Observe when a toddler offers consolation to
his/her friend when they are crying. Or comfort a waling baby by offering their
favorite toys.
Children naturally look for ways to contribute and help others.
Only we may not be able to see it in the daily hum-drum of our lives. One sure
shot way of nurturing this innate quality of your child is to allow him/her to
exercise this ability to ‘give’. School environment is perfect for your
children to exercise their charitable muscle so that they become really good at
giving too.
Teachers like Joice, who recognize this inherent quality in children,
are the ones who are truly able to provide safe opportunities to children to practice the joy of giving. Mrs. Joice spends 6 minutes of her after class time
to ‘listen’ to one child every day. And by listening, we truly mean listening,
without interruption. She provides a safe outlet for them to pour out their
heart out to her, with only a word or two of encouragement, when needed.
She knows her kids very well. In her 3 years with Mount Litera
Zee School, she has seen and experienced empathy and compassion in children. She
says, "My greatest joy is being with the children. I love to recognize and
bring out their innate potential through activity based learning. I have
also changed my views about Teaching and Learning after I joined Zee school
which gives me a lot of happiness. Of course I feel very happy when parents
have the trust in us and spread the positive word of mouth."