Get Inspired: Using Food to Teach Kids to Make a Difference
Monday, January 16, 2012
“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’” Martin Luther King, Jr. posed this, and today I’m feeling inspired to think of new ways to answer it.
Of course as moms, we always have a natural response to it, at least when it comes to our kids: “Everything!”
What does this have to do with food you ask? Well, to be honest, I doubt Dr. King had food in mind when he made that speech. But there are so many ways we can connect our family’s relationship with food to helping support a better community.
A few examples of ways we can make a difference simply by being considerate in our food plan—and keeping kids in the loop:
- Choosing organic food to keep pesticides from polluting our land and water
- Supporting local farms to save resources and keep extra fuel from polluting our air
- Teaching our children to share, whether it’s with other children during school lunch or by participating in community food drives
Food really does offer us plenty of opportunity to teach our little ones the value of being good stewards of the planet and good, active members of the community.
So today, on this Day of Service, I hope you’ll also get inspired to come up with new ways to instill these values in your children. Consider helping them organize a canned food drive in your neighborhood or at school. Or have your child join you in cooking tonight’s dinner, and spend a little extra time explaining each ingredient—where it came from and why choosing it over something else has a positive impact on the environment.
Any of these simple actions we can take really can make a difference. Happy Martin Luther King Day!
Related posts:
Full House: Inspiration Shines Through the Thanksgiving Food Coma
Soul Food: The Other Kind of Nourishment
