Throughout the month of April, our Character Essentials® theme is We Are Good Citizens, during which we focus on teaching children the values that make up a good citizen. This includes traits like compromise, fairness, honesty, and accountability.
Extending these teachings beyond the classroom helps to reinforce these learnings so children can begin to practice them as they grow. Here are some ways you can teach good citizenship at home:
- Help children understand how to care for the world around them. Start by exposing them to their local community and inviting them to participate in things like a neighborhood clean-up, recycling efforts, or taking care of an elderly neighbor’s garden or flower bed. This will help your child understand that they are a part of a larger community.
- Have a family meeting to plan a special day, trip, or activity that you can all do together. Start by listing everyone’s ideas and then decide on a way to compromise so that all ideas are represented.
- Set aside time every evening to read a book that encourages good citizenship. Some examples include:
- “Talk and Work It Out” by Cheri Meiners
- “The Day No One Played Together: A Story About Compromise” by Donalisa Helsley
- “How Do Dinosaurs Stay Friends?” by Jane Yolen
- “Mine!” by Jeff Mack
Click here to learn more about Character Essentials.
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