Teaching How to Help Others
As adults, it is our responsibility to teach/model that we all need to help each other, and that we are all capable of doing so. The size and nature of the contributions do not matter nearly as much as the effort and intent. Children can help each other, but it is up to the adults to provide the means and motivation for them to do so.
Our daughter, Maribeth, and her co-worker, Kathi, along with the assistance of their husbands, Sean and Mike, recently co-facilitated the first in town PMC (Pan Mass Challenge) Kids Ride. It was an enormous undertaking and the two very green co-chairs did an amazing job of orchestrating, conducting and following through with this event. As a family, we helped in small ways, recruiting volunteers and riders, spreading the word, and being as supportive as we could from the sidelines.
Ari was away at camp, but the other 8 grandkids participated in the ride. Our son manned the medical tent, and our other daughter and her husband provided raffle items, hands-on assistance, and a lot of know-how. A dear family friend, a professional photographer, took the pictures. Many past and present staff members and former students from my school spent their free Sunday morning filling in registrations, decorating bikes, face painting, and most of all, cheering on the riders. We felt so blessed to have so many friends and extended family members enthusiastically join in the undertaking, and help to make it such a tremendous success.
The riders understood that the money being raised was going to be used to help fund research for kids with cancer. They rode with vigor and youthful joy, spurred on by the d.j. calling out their names over the pa system, and the adult volunteers yelling wildly on the sidelines. They had an official water station, but most barely slowed down long enough for a drink. They had a mission, and were determined to ride for the full hour to help children in need. It was not a race, so there was no competitive edge…..simply kids helping kids.
Afterwards, while munching on all the pizza they could possibly eat, it was unanimous: they would all return next year, and bring friends. They’d had such a good time, and the giant posters of the Cancer Institute’s pedal partners helped them put faces to the children they were helping. The sheer joy of the morning cannot be captured in words. The adult volunteers expressed gratitude for being included. And yes, there were moments……when our granddaughter, Emma, battling a stubborn brain tumor for the last five years, took the microphone and said, “ I am glad to all who are here to support me. Thank you!”, and then took a bow, there was hardly a dry eye on the street. Even the NH State Police bag pipers looked a bit misty. Some of the children riding had issues of their own, which they were able to surmount in order to take part in the ride. It was so incredibly heartwarming/breaking, and the end result is that these children all now how good it feels to be able to help others.
We are so very proud of our family for joining forces and finding so many different ways to try to help. Teaching their children to think of others, and to be willing to work towards helping them, show us all how to be better people. I think everyone left last Sunday feeling optimistic and inspired. I know I did. Thank you to all who joined us. Maybe someday soon a cure will be discovered……and other families will not have to live with the nightmare that is pediatric cancer.
Tip #28: You have to teach the children that they have the responsibility and capability of helping others, especially other children. You have to believe it, model it, and genuinely share in the joy that comes from giving. If you want the world to be a better place, you have to be part of the solution.....and our grandchildren will be the architects of our future!
As adults, it is our responsibility to teach/model that we all need to help each other, and that we are all capable of doing so. The size and nature of the contributions do not matter nearly as much as the effort and intent. Children can help each other, but it is up to the adults to provide the means and motivation for them to do so.
Our daughter, Maribeth, and her co-worker, Kathi, along with the assistance of their husbands, Sean and Mike, recently co-facilitated the first in town PMC (Pan Mass Challenge) Kids Ride. It was an enormous undertaking and the two very green co-chairs did an amazing job of orchestrating, conducting and following through with this event. As a family, we helped in small ways, recruiting volunteers and riders, spreading the word, and being as supportive as we could from the sidelines.
Ari was away at camp, but the other 8 grandkids participated in the ride. Our son manned the medical tent, and our other daughter and her husband provided raffle items, hands-on assistance, and a lot of know-how. A dear family friend, a professional photographer, took the pictures. Many past and present staff members and former students from my school spent their free Sunday morning filling in registrations, decorating bikes, face painting, and most of all, cheering on the riders. We felt so blessed to have so many friends and extended family members enthusiastically join in the undertaking, and help to make it such a tremendous success.
The riders understood that the money being raised was going to be used to help fund research for kids with cancer. They rode with vigor and youthful joy, spurred on by the d.j. calling out their names over the pa system, and the adult volunteers yelling wildly on the sidelines. They had an official water station, but most barely slowed down long enough for a drink. They had a mission, and were determined to ride for the full hour to help children in need. It was not a race, so there was no competitive edge…..simply kids helping kids.
Afterwards, while munching on all the pizza they could possibly eat, it was unanimous: they would all return next year, and bring friends. They’d had such a good time, and the giant posters of the Cancer Institute’s pedal partners helped them put faces to the children they were helping. The sheer joy of the morning cannot be captured in words. The adult volunteers expressed gratitude for being included. And yes, there were moments……when our granddaughter, Emma, battling a stubborn brain tumor for the last five years, took the microphone and said, “ I am glad to all who are here to support me. Thank you!”, and then took a bow, there was hardly a dry eye on the street. Even the NH State Police bag pipers looked a bit misty. Some of the children riding had issues of their own, which they were able to surmount in order to take part in the ride. It was so incredibly heartwarming/breaking, and the end result is that these children all now how good it feels to be able to help others.
We are so very proud of our family for joining forces and finding so many different ways to try to help. Teaching their children to think of others, and to be willing to work towards helping them, show us all how to be better people. I think everyone left last Sunday feeling optimistic and inspired. I know I did. Thank you to all who joined us. Maybe someday soon a cure will be discovered……and other families will not have to live with the nightmare that is pediatric cancer.
Tip #28: You have to teach the children that they have the responsibility and capability of helping others, especially other children. You have to believe it, model it, and genuinely share in the joy that comes from giving. If you want the world to be a better place, you have to be part of the solution.....and our grandchildren will be the architects of our future!
3 comments:
To be a good parent, teacher, grandparent, we must know how youngsters think. See the new book on amazon.com: "Teaching and Helping Students Think and Do Better".
Little kids like to feel important. This event made every single kid feel like a million bucks. And then they made the paper. Not their parents, the kids. Smiles abound when there is pride in self. David's House up at Dartmouth is always looking for help from kids to keep kids "in the loop" while they are sick. CHaD and the Jimmy Fund Clinic at DFCI likewise like to have kids help out. Even picking a rainy day and making cards or shopping for inexpensive games can brighten the lives of so many. Let your kids know how very proud you are of them. Jump up and down and make a fool out of yourself. It's worth every single self satisfied grin.
Grandparents act a very important role on kids' education, since parents are busy in working while grandparents realtively have more time playing with kids. My son really benefits from my father, his granpa's education a lot.
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