Children's Happiness

Thus the season that we see commercials about giving to others.  Coca Cola's adds for generations have had Christmas commercials depicting sharing or passing on hope.  With all the ads, we still seem to have a generation of people asking "Whats in it for me?".  A student was asked by a teacher to close the door.  The student replied "Do I get extra credit if I do?"

An article on the CNN websites states the following: (http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/17/living/giving-makes-children-happy/)
"But a growing body of research paints a compelling picture that may help us rethink some of our over-the-top spending on children. These studies confirm some age-old wisdom about happiness: If the goal really is to make our children happy, perhaps what we ought to be doing is not over-indulging them, but giving them the opportunity to give."

I believe it is important to teach our children to reach out and be willing to give of themselves to others. It does not have to be monetary gift; a simple gesture to help others is giving.  Take the time to talk to our children/students about slogans/organizations such as "Pay It Forward", "Random Acts of Kindness"  and KarmaSeed (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtqxXDoHNBE).  Encourage students to start their own chain to do good for others without expecting a payback.  A great prompt for writing "How can you give to others?"