How Can We Teach Our Children To Be World Changers?

People are always telling me to enjoy every minute of parenthood. To be honest, some days are just survival so it can be difficult to savor the moment. Especially when I’m trying to fish my son’s ninja turtle toys out of the toilet. Today, I was searching through old pictures to see baby pictures of my little boys. Then the emotions hit and I realized just how big all three of them are. They aren’t itty bitties anymore.

(From the left: Liam, Levi, and Lucas)

Now, they’re becoming little men. My four year old is starting pre-k this year, my two year old is developing his LOUD personality, and my baby is getting closer and closer to his first birthday.

I find myself using the “I’ll do it when they’re older” excuse a lot. I have three kids under five. There is so much I want to teach them. So much I want to show them in life, but I should wait until they’re old enough to understand, right? No. They may not understand some huge concepts right just yet, but you can bring it to their level now and start. We need to teach our kids about the world. We need to show them how unique every culture is and how each one makes the world a better place. We need to teach them all to stand up and challenge prejudice and racism and love everyone. We can’t wait. We need to start today. So, what can we do today to teach them to be world changers and how to stand up against intolerance?Teach them about the uniqueness of other cultures.This one seems like an easy one, but it can be overlooked. We need to show our kids other cultures. This can be done by introducing them to foods foreign to them, reading books about different customs, listening to music, watching movies, attending festivals, etc. We aren’t limited in the ways we can teach our kids about the world around them. The more they know about other cultures, the more they can challenge ignorance.Use every moment as a teaching opportunity.Every moment with our child is an opportunity to teach them about the world they live in. It would be nice to keep them from the negative lessons; however, it’s impossible. Situations will occur around them and their little brains instantly start trying to process it. Ignoring it, crossing our fingers, and hoping our child didn’t notice won’t work. We need to use it to our advantage. We need to teach them what they could have done in the situation or why it’s wrong.The opposite is true as well. We can highlight the moments that show the love of other cultures and tolerance. As our child sees examples of what to do, they will start figuring out what it would look like in their own life.Encourage them to have a voice.Kids have so much to say. They can ramble on for hours about Legos, dolls, and what they did yesterday. That means they’re finding their voice. They’re figuring out what they think about the world and how to explain that to us.It’s easy, in the midst of a busy day, to quiet our kids and push them off.Give me a minute, I’m working.Can you tell me later?Hold on.Instead of pushing them off, listen. We need to pause everything we’re doing, listen, and hear what they have to say. As we reinforce them by making them the priority, they will gain the confidence to speak up more. If they’re going to be world changers, they need to have the confidence to speak up and say what they think.Then we can take it a step further and ask them what they think.How do you think we can teach our children to be world changers?