Making a difference with your kids

If you are a parent, you have a powerful opportunity to make the world a better place through the values and beliefs you instill in your children. It's a world-changing role.

Every child has the potential to absorb the message that doing good is an important part of life. And for every child brought up not just to believe that, but also to act on it, the future gets brighter.

It starts with a conversation

One of the many things I have long admired about Kevin Salwen (you may remember him as co-founder and editor of the sadly departed Motto / Worthwhile magazine) is the way he and his wife Joan have focused on that very thing with their kids.

I remember one post on the Motto blog where he talked about a conversation his family had around the dining room table. "What if we suddenly had a million dollars to give away to a good cause? How would we spend it? Where would we spend it? What issues are important to us?"

I always thought it was a great way to engage the kids to really think about what's important to them.

Taking action (in a big way)

It was only a theoretical conversation to get them thinking, but something about it must have sunk in...and sunk in deeply.

Fast forward a couple years from that post, and you'll find the Salwens selling their beautiful old mansion (it's still on the market for $1.8 million) to move into a house half its size and half its price, and donating the difference to The Hunger Project. The idea was sparked by his teenage daughter, Hannah. They have a site detailing the idea called Hannah's Lunchbox.

You can see more about their project on these clips from The Today Show and CNN.

Something for everyone

What I love about the Salwens' story isn't the scale of it, though that grabs your attention, to be sure. It's the part that is available to each and every parent, whatever their situation. Playing out on a jaw-dropping scale isn't what's important. What's important is blending exploration, respect for the kids' ideas and opinions, and family action.

In a nutshell, here's what I took away from the Salwens' story (I should note that I have no kids myself, so this is purely from what I have observed and not from any personal expertise - for those of you parents out there, I would love to hear your take on it).

1. Engage in conversations: Having conversations about exploring what feels important and what feels meaningful is where any seed gets planted.

2. Give the kids a voice: The conversations about what's important aren't just about dictating values. They're an opportunity to really open it up for discussion and exploration. What do they think, and why?

3. Explore the possibilities: As you get a better sense for what feels important, you can use that to start exploring possible ways to make a difference.

4. Do it together: The last part of what I find so powerful about the Salwens' story is that it was a family project. Whatever difference you decide to focus on making, there is an opportunity to ratchet up the personal benefit as well by doing it together. Along those lines, here is an interesting study on the benefits of family volunteering (pdf file).

For those of you with kids, how do you engage them around the idea of making a difference in the world? I would love to hear your stories.

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by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

Comments

[Brian Crouch]

That's a great piece, Curt.
About 15 years ago I was a crewman on a hospital ship that did medical and dental work in Africa. It was all-volunteer, and many families were aboard. It was great to see the kids get involved with simple things to help in the communities we visited... even teaching skateboarding was a way to connect. Those kids have an unforgettable and incomparable catalyst for passion in their hearts for life.

[Curt Rosengren]

Thanks Brian. Wouldn't it be fascinating to be able to talk to those kids now and see what kind of impact it had on their lives?

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