Moving right along.
#1 we talked about on Wednesday, encouraging a global perspective in your kids starts with encouraging a global perspective in yourself.
Numbers 2 - 4 are a little more on the practical side. Some of you have already shared your own lists in the comments. THANK YOU and keep'em coming!!
#2: Encourage your Kids to Read or Read to Them.
Honestly, I believe this can include just about any type of book. While on the surface Dr. Seuss may not seem to encourage global thinking, a love of reading might.
(then again, one of my favorite quotes right now comes from Dr. Seuss: "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better, its not!")
Dr. Noble of Summit Ministries has been known to say, "If you want to be a leader, you have got to be a reader." If you instill in your kids a love of reading their perspective will enlarge.
Some books to focus them on a more global/missional mindset: YWAM's Christian Heroes Then and Now. They have a series for more advanced readers (9 and up) and one for younger readers (4-6). Faith-building stories of men and women like George Mueller, Mary Slessor and Corrie Ten Boom.
If magazines or a website would keep your kid's attention better, Voice of the Martyrs has a website/blog for kids and Compassion has a magazine.
#3: Display a World Map
Here is ours.
We have push pins in all of the countries we have some kind of connection to, whether it be a Lifesong mission, a Compassion kid, or a missionary we know. It is a subtle thing, but there is something about seeing where you live compared to the rest of the world that gets a person thinking.
We have ours hanging in the office; the kids walk past it most days.
#4: Find Local Events that Introduce Global Thinking
If you look for them you find them everywhere. This Sunday is Orphan Sunday, if you head to this website I think there is a good chance you will find an event in your neighborhood this weekend. We are heading to hear a missionary family talk about their work in Guatamala tonight. Lifesong for Orphans is doing a Christmas tour with the muscial group FFH and 6 kids from the Lifesong school in Zambia (go here for the schedule). Our church put together their first (and hopefully not last) missions night last winter.
By supporting this type of event, you will introduce your kids to new cultures in a fun and interesting way.
These are all small ways you can start introducing global perspective to your kids at young ages, and hopefully as a result, you can begin to introduce the concept that the rest of the world does not live like we do in America. It takes some intentionality and time, but it is a lesson worth teaching.
I've got 6 more ways to encourage a global perspective coming, but for now, please continue to share some of yours!
1 comment:
LOVE the map! I've been wanting to do something like this just haven't gotten it done yet!
I've found that with our kids being so young the best way for them to "get it" is by hands on activities. So we do a lot of service projects in our home. The boys go with me to buy the supplies for whatever project we are doing and then they assemble the bags/baskets at home. I love when they also have the opportunity to see where these bags have gone - I think it really hits home then. Thanksgiving baskets - buying & delivering are great for this. Or pictures from our missionary friends of where our bags have gone so the boys see the kids they are helping.
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