Social Responsibility: Down to the Core

Social responsibility- a term that has now become quite common in the field of education and has the potential to lose its meaning if we are not careful. As an early childhood educator, I have always placed great importance on the need to develop this way of thinking in young children. It is for this reason that we engage in activities that benefit others, such as volunteering at our local food bank, adopting an owl, or raising money for Variety Club. With the recent catastrophe in the Philippines, my mind was suddenly thrown into its own typhoon. I found myself asking questions around social responsibility and what it really means. What does it mean to me? What does it mean to my preschoolers? How far does it extend into the world around us? Can four year old children grasp these deep and complex concepts? What can they understand about their world? How can we teach them about being socially responsible to: ones self; ones family; ones community; ones province; ones country; ones world?

I am blessed to have a good friend who listened patiently to some of my mind's wanderings and offered some insight to settle my mind. I find that as an educator I often grapple with balance and limits. I believe that children only take in information that makes sense to them at the time so I like to push the boundaries of offering them ideas to think about. And, sometimes, these ideas are big. Yesterday fit into one of those times.

While struggling through a morning cardio workout, I had a moment of pure and utter appreciation. I thought how fortunate I am to have a gym to work out in, a home with a shower and coffee maker (yes, this is something to be thankful for!), a wonderful building to teach these awesome children etc. Wow, very fortunate indeed. And, then, of course, images of the Philippines flashed through my mind. The injustice, the hardship, the turmoil. How will they get through this event? How will they re-build themselves, their community, their life? What is my role in this tragedy? And, what is my role as an educator?

With an unsettled mind, I arrived at work eager to chat to the two other teachers in the class. I wanted to know what they thought about sharing this tragedy with our children. I was quite sure our children had most likely seen glimpses of the event on tv or in a newspaper left on a counter top, so I thought it was best to bring it out in the open. As well, one of our teachers is from the Philippines so there is a connection not to be overlooked. The teachers agreed we could chat about it in group time. I quickly ran to the computer and printed some images that would reveal the darkness of the disaster without being emotionally traumatic. Images that would compel them to think about other children their age.

These were the pictures we choose:

To begin the conversation, Yvette told them about this wonderful country where she is from. Then she told them about the typhoon and its effects. We then passed the photos around:

They looked. They really looked. What did they see? What did this mean to them? We talked about what we could do to help. The following quotes are only some of the thoughts that were generated from this conversation:

Makena: They need shelter. They will be dead.
Addie: They are thirsty and hungry.
Emma: We can help them
Connor: We can get them water.
Rhyan: We have to give them milk.
Addie: She is just sad.
Jack: We need to help them to find their mommy and daddy.
Addie: They do not have washing machines.
Emma: They don't have dishwashers.
Kahlen: I would get her some clothes.
Rhys: They don't have phones.
Connor: Or Ipods.
Addie: They don't have any light.
Jack: They don't have food to eat and their mommy and daddy might have died.
Makena: We can give them food.And a blanket.

Deep thinkers these four year olds! Was it upsetting? Yes! I think we often fear sadness in our children. We want their world to be "Disneyland-like' but really is this in their best interest? We need to teach them that there is a place for sadness in our world and we can work through hardships and sadness together. This is part of social responsibility -working together towards a common goal, through the good and the bad.

So, on Monday, we will gather food items, clothing and blankets and will send a package off to the Philippines to do our small part in making the world a loving, caring place. After all, it is our responsibility.

(Parents- what did your children say at home? Did they seem to understand our discussion? What do they want to contribute to the package? I invite any feedback- would love to know what this all means to them.)