I'm Responsible!

Does anybody remember a certain commercial where the popular saying goes: "Kung ano ang ginagawa ng matatanda, ito ang gagayahin ng mga bata"? ("Children will imitate what adults are doing.") We may not make a big deal out of it, but as our kids grow older, they become more aware of their surroundings, and the people around it. Conscious or not, they look up to us. We (grown-ups) become their role models long before they have an understanding of what is right or wrong. And with the dawning of issues like the toy recalls, global warming, formalin in food and swine flu, I believe its high time for us to teach our kids the importance of social responsibility.

Social What?

According to my good friend, Mr. Wiki:

Social responsibility is an ethical or ideological theory that an entity whether it is a government, corporation, organization or individual has a responsibility to society...Social responsibility is voluntary; it is about going above and beyond what is called for by the law(legal responsibility). It involves an idea that it is better to be proactive toward a problem rather than reactive to a problem.

Deep, no?

My Mom, My Example

When I was younger, my mom would make us feel guilty whenever we would throw litter out of the car window or leave trash inside the movie house. She would go on and on about how disrespectful we were of the owners of the lot where our litter lands or how inconsiderate we are of the next users, etc., etc. So instead tossing around those little candy wrappers, she would ask it from us, and instead, dump it inside her bag. As soon as we get home or find a trash can along the way, she would then properly throw it there.

She also made sure we attended a school with grounded social activities. There, we had monthly outreaches which started in the 6th grade well until high school. I would fondly remember her always tagging us along in projects sponsored by an NGO she's involved with. Little does she know that all these time, she was already planting a seed of consciousness in us. At first I was apprehensive since it would mean less time with my friends or less time reading my pocketbooks (nerd!). But when I started enjoying the activities, I would find myself looking forward to another of their events and even convincing my friends to help out too!

How Soon Do We Teach Them?

My friend told me a story about her 3 year old daughter, reminding her to turn off the switch when they were about to leave the room with the lights still on. It made her cringe in guilt, but at the same time beam in pride that her little one was able to learn so quickly (and early).

Quoting from a site I came across:

"Creating opportunities for young children to learn about the environment can be as simple as taking a walk in the woods, visiting a local farm or planting a garden. Any of these activities can stimulate your child’s natural curiosity while providing many teachable moments to talk about the delicate balance of nature and our responsibility to preserve it."

O diba, its like hitting two birds with once stone? Outings like going to parks and zoos instead of the usual mall trip is ideal to expose your child to nature. It'll also give them an opportunity to teach them about their place in the ecosystem.

What About Us?

We might not have the luxury of time but simple things like throwing trash properly, unplugging unused electrical appliances and saving water can already do a lot for our environment. Or even take on one of the biggest challenges for moms like us is to reduce (or even eliminate, gasp!) the use of disposable diapers.  Not only does it help, it will actually help us save some precious money, too!

I have been a user (of disposable diapers, that is) since my 15 month old was born and now I'm in the trial and error process of using washables, to help in saving the environment. (Thanks to erins_mom for the inspiration)

The Deal on Social Responsibility

As they grow older, our children will have their own conviction on things but we, the adults, need to remind ourselves that our own principles will certainly rub off on them. We must start planting that little seed of consciousness on them so that we won't be rearing up another executive who was so engrossed with profit that he forgot about the amount of lead in their manufactured toys may mean sickness or even death for a child in another part of the world.

I know my kid is still only a year old, but I'll make sure to give her the amount of exposure and awareness (or hopefully even more) that my mom zealously taught us.

So why wait for the world to change when we can change the world, one little act of random kindness at a time? Make the world's welfare our own business, preserve a bit of paradise for our children and save some moolah in the process. We can all start by saying: "I'm responsible!"

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Here are some sites you might want to visit:

1. 100 Ways to save the environment
2. 50 Ways to save the environment
3. Global Warming survival guide
4. 99 Easy Ways

Reference: Raising Children with Social Responsiblity, Wikipedia-Social Responsiblity

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