Kids and the Virtue of Charity: Four Ways to Foster it at Home.
In the true spirit of Valentine’s Day, we have been working on the virtue of Charity this month with our Lower School students. Charity is more than just being generous with the poor and less fortunate, or donating to “charities”. Charity in its fullest meaning is following the greatest commandment that Christ gave us: “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
It is the lifelong challenge to love God with all our hearts, and to love our neighbor the way God loves us. It is also seeing God in our neighbor, and loving him where we find him. Our love of neighbor should be an extension of our love for God.
What does it mean for us and for our children to live charity in our daily lives? It starts at home, in the classroom, on the soccer field – in those we encounter every day.
Here are a few ways that you can help foster the virtue of charity at home:
Sarah Oryschak is a consecrated member of Regnum Christi and works in campus ministry in the lower school at Pinecrest Academy. She can be reached at soryschak@pinecrestacademy.org.
Is there a topic you’d like to read about in the Pinecrest blog? If so, please email Kristen Nelson at knelson@pinecrestacademy.org.
What does it mean for us and for our children to live charity in our daily lives? It starts at home, in the classroom, on the soccer field – in those we encounter every day.
Here are a few ways that you can help foster the virtue of charity at home:
- Charity in thoughts and words are the first steps. If we are able to think kindly and speak kindly of others, we are more likely to treat them with kindness. Encourage your child to look for the good in the other person, especially when they would like to complain or tell you what the other person did wrong. Our example as adults is crucial in this area; if we are able to speak kindly of others, our kids are more likely to pick it up.
- Pray for the needs of others with your children. The more specific (and age-appropriate) you can be about these intentions, the better. This teaches that you can bring those in need to God in prayer, while also growing in relationship with God through prayer.
- Encourage your child to reach out to someone they normally would not, to teach them to be inclusive of others. It will be uncomfortable at first, but that discomfort is part of growing in virtue. Again, your example is key here in your own relationships with others.
- Encourage acts of kindness towards others, not in return for praise or because that other person has done something kind to them. True charity seeks to give and to love without needing anything back. each your children the acronym JOY: Jesus, Others, Yourself. They will find that as they grow in the virtue of charity, they will be happier and joy-filled.
Sarah Oryschak is a consecrated member of Regnum Christi and works in campus ministry in the lower school at Pinecrest Academy. She can be reached at soryschak@pinecrestacademy.org.
Is there a topic you’d like to read about in the Pinecrest blog? If so, please email Kristen Nelson at knelson@pinecrestacademy.org.
