In this day and age, being socially conscious and open-minded to the issues going on around the world is important.
It’s also important for you to teach kids to be socially conscious of today’s global issues and there are ways for you to do that.
How to Raise Socially Conscious Kids
According to Creative Child, there are a few ways for you to do that and that includes:
1. Forge Strong Relationship With Adults
If the youth culture seems to be increasingly self-centred and disconnected, it may be because they are disconnected first and self-centred second, according to Michael Ungar in his book, ‘The We Generation’.
Kids these days don’t have the sort of connection they need from adults from around them.
They need encouragement, compassion and a strong connection with their parents.
Michael found that throughout his years counselling families that have an additional strong connection with at least one caring adult, other than a parent, has helped children become resilient and better equipped to see beyond themselves.
2. Teach Them to Stand Up for Just Causes
Show your child how to stand up for her rights and the rights of others.
If there is a battle your child can fight for themselves, coach them on how to argue respectfully for their rights and others so that she’s heard.
Every child has different gifts and they can be tailored to fight for or support social justice.
It doesn’t matter if it seems trivial, they have to start somewhere at some point.
3. Expose Your Child to Charitable Acts
Volunteering and exposing your child to charitable good deeds may be the best place to start helping your child to do the same.
When kids watch their parents donate money or provide food for the homeless, that kind social consciousness become embedded in a child’s DNA.
Find causes that resonates with your child.
Help your child find empathetic ways to make a direct contribution.
The more they give, the more they would care.
4. Don’t Over Praise
It’s great when your child start showing great initiatives to help a cause.
However, lavishing praises often works as a distraction, according to Polly Young-Eisendrath.
She said that when kids expect praise for small accomplishments, it actually gets in the way of their thinking about other people’s needs.
Every child need and deserves a pat on the back.
But in order for selflessness to flourish, it should not be blinded by ego.
Why Raising Socially Conscious Kids Is Important
According to Tiny Beans, a child that’s trained to be socially conscious can empathise with the perspectives of others, listen empathically and display vulnerability.
These are the skills that comprise emotional intelligence.
According to Salovey and Mayer, emotional intelligence is a set of skills that contribute to the accurate appraisal and expression of emotion in oneself and other.
They suggested that emotional intelligence may be a greater predictor of success than IQ, so these skills are important for a child’s growth and development.
A few benefits of raising socially conscious kids include:
1. Better Prepared to Be Leaders
Being socially aware means that you understand how to react to different social scenarios.
This way, your child can adapt your interactions to achieve the best results in any situation.
A child that develops the sophistication to read people and situations will be able to gain friends, influence people and motivate others.
2. More Likely to Practise Gratitude
To be grateful, you need to be aware of the benefits you receive from others and understand how to reciprocate appropriately.
Gratitude is a social and emotional learning skill that is built from in-person interactions, meaningful discussion and reflection.
Social awareness supports a grateful attitude in children because they learn to be humble and appreciative as they consider the perspectives of others.
3. Have Greater Self-Awareness and Self-Acceptance
According to a book, Emotional Intelligence 2.0, self-awareness involves looking inward to learn about yourself and understand yourself.
On the other hand, social awareness is looking outward to learn about and appreciate others.
This is a reciprocal process of learning that involves understanding yourself and understanding others to greater and greater depths.
A child would learn how to appreciate their personality and individuality as they learn to authentically respect the experiences and perspective of others.
They would develop the ability to see themselves more clearly and evaluate themselves through introspection.
4. They Can Persevere and Find Greater Purpose in Life
Kids with greater social awareness and higher emotional intelligence are said to perform better on cognitive tasks and are better on cognitive tasks.
Hence, they are better able to overcome frustration when faced with challenges performing tasks.
Perseverance comes from a growth mindset.
A child who approaches learning with humility and open-mindedness is going to be more resilient in their processes.
The combination of compassion and resilience would then support children in finding and achieving greater purpose in their lives through strong relationships, flexibility of thought and persistence towards goals.
Activities You Can Do to Raise Socially Conscious Kids
Child development expert, Denise Daniels, suggested a few daily activities you can try to teach kids to be socially conscious and to have empathy.
Among them include:
- recycle at home
- prepare a meal together for someone in need
- teach through exposure
- give one compliment a day
- share a positive story from the news
- ask for birthday party donations
- donate a book
- write to a pen pal
- travel to learn
Raising a Socially Conscious Generation
There are a bunch of benefits when it comes to raising a socially conscious child.
It doesn’t mean that they have to grow up and be an activist, it just means that they’ll be good, kind and aware of what’s happening globally.
You don’t have to start big right away, sometimes, it’s the little things that matter.
Disclaimer: The information provided in this article is for informational purposes only and should not be considered as medical advice from Motherhood. For any health-related concerns, it is advisable to consult with a qualified healthcare professional or medical practitioner.
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