To keep Oakis clean and in good working order, it’s recommended to hand-wash them with a mild detergent and then let them air dry. A rinse-off outside or in a sink would be a good first step if they’re super muddy! If you do need to pop them in the washing machine, first zip them up and turn them inside out, then wash on a gentle cycle. The less they’re washed and the gentler they’re dried, the better they’ll keep everyone dry and happy!
This Monday is a National Day of Service, honoring the activism and vision of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Families, organizations, and individuals are called to take a “day on,” rather than a day off, and to use that day in service of the greater community.
With young kids, acts of service, like everything else, are part of larger, ongoing conversations about privilege, perspective, and the power to impact change. Sometimes we, as early childhood educators, are asked to suggest service projects that kids can do and ways our students can engage with their community. And while we have ideas (see below!), the work we do in school and as families to support those ideas is how we help foster a commitment to community that lasts a lifetime. Teaching children about service isn’t as simple as doing a one-off project; service is most meaningful when it’s contextualized, child-led, and a sustained part of school and family life.
First, it’s important to note that when talking with your young kids, you don’t need to tiptoe around issues of inequality and privilege. Kids as young as three already start to base their rankings of social status around things like perceived wealth and decision-making power. They’re already separating people into haves and have-nots, and showing a marked preference for the haves. And that doesn’t generally change as they get older; adults, too, prefer to distance themselves from people and communities that they perceive as marginalized. So talking with kids early and often about the different ways that people look and live, the different challenges people face, and the inherent value of others is an important part of helping them develop a more inclusive internal social barometer.
It’s also important to be mindful of language and pushing through your own discomfort when talking with kids about the people around them. Try to avoid euphemisms; they’re confusing to kids, at best. At worst, vague answers can sometimes reinforce “othering”: seeing some people as intrinsically different from you. Even when kids ask questions that feel embarrassing (“Why is that person holding a sign next to the road?” “Why can’t hungry people just buy more food?” “Why is that person talking like that?” “Why do they live in such a small house?” “Why can’t they walk?” “Why is their skin like that?”), the best answers are often the simplest and most honest. Using phrases like “less fortunate” or “the poor,” referring to “bad neighborhoods,” glossing over obvious differences in appearances, and shutting down questions or observations subtly shares the message that “those” people are different from you. In the context of helping, it implies that those who need help are somehow different from people who are giving help. It reinforces the messaging that those who are marginalized in some contexts are less powerful for a reason. Instead, using clear language that centers the person helps show that all people have value, and that problems people face lie with systemic issues rather than with who they are as individuals. A service mindset that lasts a lifetime starts with seeing opportunities to help as opportunities to work with each other, and that happens with people-centered, problem-focused conversations about marginalized communities.
Along with that, kids do a better job developing empathy and perspective when they have friends, toys, books, and media that show a wide range of viewpoints and experiences. Check your bookshelf at home: what do the people in those books look like? What are they doing? If you have books that show characters of many different ages or races or income levels or abilities, do their stories ever show them just being people instead of focusing on their differences? Who wrote the books and who’s telling the stories? Take a peek at your kids’ toys: do all of the people look the same? Do the movies, music, and tv shows in your home show a variety of characters in a variety of situations making a variety of different choices? Being an active participant in your child’s play and media experiences will also help you strengthen their perspective-taking skills. Ask questions about what characters may be feeling. Help them make predictions. Point out moments of conflict and ask your child how they would react.
While seeing a range of experiences in play helps foster perspective-taking, seeing different changemakers at work also is a vital part of kids feeling empowered to help others. Children who are intentionally taught about the power of civic engagement, the long-reaching impact of small acts of kindness, and the empowerment of individuals to help themselves are better able to see themselves as agents of change. Children who are intentionally taught about a wide range of changemakers are better able to identify their own power, and better able to see marginalized communities as capable of helping themselves. Learning about small ways we help each other and being very explicit about how even small actions can help lift each other up also reinforces the message that all of us need help sometimes, and all of us can help sometimes. Talking about an act of service that has no greater goal than bringing a smile with the same intentionality and respect as acts of service that aim to impact systemic change helps show that even small actions can be powerful.
A final component of impactful service is helping kids come up with their own helping experiences rather than dictate explicitly what they should do. This is a hard one, and obviously looks different at different ages. Young kids often benefit from some ideas to use as a springboard, and older kids sometimes have too-specific plans and need some help finding ways to put the themes of those plans in motion. And, of course, there are always logistical concerns that sometimes require adult planning! But, whenever possible, it’s important to make service experiences authentic ones, child-initiated and child-powered. Involving kids in the planning and execution of a project, working to keep them engaged, and having ongoing conversations with them before, during, and after helps to continue the experience beyond just the action itself.
Laying a foundation for a life of service is, like so many aspects of life with kids, multi-faceted, ongoing, and not always easy. But helping children become compassionate and engaged members of society is one of our biggest responsibilities to them. By intentionally teaching kids that all people have power, working to help them practice empathy, showing them the different ways to effect change, and letting them be leaders in their own service journey, we can help them develop skills and perspectives that will support their community-centered mindset for a lifetime.
Here are some Service Ideas to get you started:
Here are some books for kids that show low-income living:
—Nicole Privitera, BCS Community Liaison