How To Teach Your Children To Be Changers

0

I often find myself thinking about how I can teach my children to be more than a passerby.  Generally, I fail at this.  It’s like how you have amazing ideas right before you fall asleep or in the shower, but once put to the test you completely forget what it was that so Earth-shattering.  That’s me!

teach children anaheim moms blogSo, while driving home from the car wash my son started to ask me about why Target puts so much red food coloring in its gummies.  Side note, I don’t allow my son to eat red food coloring.  Unless it is completely out of my control he doesn’t get any.  Which makes buying gummies at the store pretty impossible because the super cool ones, like Ninja Turtles, ALL have red food coloring in them.

And because my son often fixates on what he can’t have, the whole red food coloring thing is a big topic of conversation in our house.  

I told my son that Target wasn’t responsible for putting red food coloring in all of the gummies it was actually the candy manufacturer.  This led to a lengthy talk about what a candy manufacturer is and I won’t bore you with those details.

Thankfully, my teaching moment mom antenna went up and I realized that this could be a way for me to teach my son how to be a changer! 

How To Teach Your Children To Be Changers

  1. Find a topic they are interested in.  Ours was red food coloring.  Doesn’t have to be world hunger.
  2. Explain.  Then explain again.   Then take a minute and congratulate yourself for explaining so much.  This is truly where I wanted to give up because explaining this to my five-year-old was less than fun BUT it eventually worked out.
  3. Show them how they can make a difference.  
    1. First, we looked up the specific manufacturer of said gummies that my son wanted.
    2. Then we found the physical contact address
    3. I had my son write a letter to them explaining why he wanted them to not have red food coloring.
    4. Then, I wrote a letter because his handwriting isn’t the best, but definitely, has the cute kid factor.
    5. And of course, I plan to use it on social media and tag the manufacturers.  
  4. Explain again that sometimes we don’t see a change right away, but that if we sit by and do nothing, it will never change!  
    1. This is hard to accept even as an adult so be prepared for a bit of let down when there aren’t Ninja Turtle gummies without red food coloring at the store the very next day.
  5. Pour some wine.  You deserve it. 

What are ways that you’ve taught your children to be changers?

Anaheim Moms Blog Teach Children