As parents, caregivers, and grown-ups who care about the future of our community, how can we model the positive side of people-powered governance without getting swept up in partisanship or petty grievances? How can we foster kinder, more engaged civic conversations with our kids?
Start Small and Extremely Local: Your Home
The tiniest unit of government is a home. Talk about what makes your family and home a pleasant place to be, then talk about how everyone contributes to that vision.
Every person in the house can live those values, no matter how big or small. Every person in the house can be supported by the rest of the household, through their successes and failures.
From there, you can scale up to talk about whether those same values should apply to your neighborhood, your township, your state, or your country.
Be Aware of What You Are Modeling
Kids naturally observe the grown-ups around them: parents, teachers, religious leaders, and YouTube influencers. The words and actions of these role models shape the way that kids view the world.
If you want kids who are kind, thoughtful, informed citizens, step back and take a look at how you exercise your citizenship. Are you an active participant in community organizations like school board meetings, township board meetings, and library board meetings? Are you registered to vote? Do you talk about your responsibilities as well as your rights? How do you talk about public service?
Encourage Noticing—and Then Doing
Find ways to encourage kids to notice the world around them. As Fred Rogers recommended, you can encourage them to look for the helpers: can they see people taking action to make the community a better place? Look for people picking up litter, being safe at crosswalks, and returning their grocery carts. For older kids, you might browse for news stories about volunteers who help at food pantries, give their time to help refugees and new immigrants, or who assist during natural disasters.
Stories abound about these helpers, even if you have to actively seek them out. Once you see others contributing in this way, talk to your kids about how they can help. Encourage them to notice and take advantage of opportunities to help someone else.
Visit Community Organizations
Places like your local library (wink, wink), local historical society, farmers markets, community parks, soup kitchens or food pantries are all places to see community in action. You could even talk about your local elected officials, like your township clerk, and find out how and why they chose to get even more involved in their communities.
These resources are not just great places to see compassionate work being done in the community, but many offer ways to participate or get involved yourself.
Books for Parents
When You Wonder, You're Learning
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