Teaching Compassion To Our Grandchildren

I believe that we all hope that our grandchildren (and children) grow up to have compassion and empathy for others. I believe this is best taught when they are young through example so these values are embedded in them for life.

So, I decided that my grandson is old enough to volunteer some time to learn about compassion, empathy and community this summer. I started looking for some volunteer opportunities in May and chose our local Meals On Wheels program. For anyone that is not familiar with this program, it is a program that delivers meals to the elderly in our community Monday through Friday. They are the oldest and largest national organization composed of and representing local, community based Senior Nutrition Programs in all 50 State.The seniors receive complete, balanced, hot meals with a cold bag meal if requested too. There is no charge for these meals but a donation is requested monthly for those that are willing and able to donate for their meals.

The reason I chose this program is because he has a fascinating ability to relate to elderly people. The grumpiest senior citizen will return a smile to him. We also have family members that live not to near us that benefit from this wonderful program and it is our way of repaying the benefits that this program provides these family members.

Many times, we are the only contact with the outside world that these seniors have so bringing along my grandson is always met with positive reactions since many of them rarely get to interact with children. All the seniors we deliver to live alone and transportation can be very challenging for them. Therefore, getting to the grocery store can be an additional challenge.  Many seniors in this situation will neglect to prepare nutritious meals for themselves due to depression that being lonely and isolated can bring on not to mention the loss of appetite that often accompanies depression. Many have special nutritional needs also that would not be met without a program like Meal On Wheels.

Volunteer deliverers are sometimes the "eyes and ears" for these seniors and may be the first ones to notice that something is not right. Recently, a volunteer noted that one of the seniors did not have air conditioning in the extreme heat that we were having. She had a window air conditioning unit but it was upstairs and she no longer used the upstairs portion of her home. This was reported, the adult son of senior was notified, and her window air conditioner was moved downstairs for her. This volunteer may have saved her life!

We are really enjoying our volunteer opportunity though and I know that my grandson is learning values that will stay with him for life. Added bonus? He gets to practice graciousness. One lady has already knitted him some slipper socks. He was absolutely gracious when she gave these wonderfully warm, wooly socks to him recently when it was 100+ degrees outside and he was thinking that it was too hot to wear anything but a pair of flip flops on his feet!

 

Lunch delivery!

I highly endorse volunteering with your grandchild/grandchildren. I promise that you will instill positive life time values, serve the community, lend a hand to someone that really could use a hand and spend some more valuable time with your youngest generation.

Mai

This post has been linked to GRAND Social linky.