Mom2Mentor
Encouraging and motivating single mothers, reminding them of their strength and determination. They can succeed as a single parent as long as they remain focused.
Its not about how you arrived at the single mom title, but, its what you do with it!
Mom2Mentor
Growing a Garden of Character: Why Children Need Compassion
Today we continue our series on planting a character garden in our children by exploring compassion – a fundamental trait that helps children function successfully in society and builds their characteristic DNA.
• Compassion is another word for love – specifically love for fellow humans who are experiencing distress
• Real-life examples demonstrate how small acts of compassion can make significant differences in others' lives
• Children need to see parents modeling compassionate behavior to understand its importance
• Volunteer opportunities like soup kitchens provide powerful visual learning experiences for children
• Teaching compassion helps children understand that they may someday need others to show them compassion
• Simple acts like offering help in grocery stores can teach powerful lessons without requiring complex planning
• Children naturally replicate behaviors they consistently observe in their parents
If you enjoyed today's episode, please leave feedback at the Mom2Mentor podcast, visit singlemomsunitedpodcast.com, or check our YouTube channel. Remember, you're more than just a nurturer and provider – you are a mentor.
https://singlemomsunitedpodcast.com/
It's not how you arrived at the title, but what you do with it.
Hey, ladies, welcome to the Mom2Mentor podcast. If this is your first time joining, welcome If you are a repeat listener. Thank you for your loyalty. Hey, as I mentioned in the past, if you've been following me, I'm planting a virtual character garden when it comes to raising our children and planting different characteristics into their lifestyles and explaining why that's important as they navigate through life, and these are things that they're going to need. These are some things you may even need that you're unaware of, and if you've listened to my prior episodes, you heard me talk about honesty, respect and confidence. All of these things are making up your characteristic DNA that you should possess to help you function in society.
Speaker 1:So today I want to talk about compassion. Compassion is just another word for love. I mean, that's it, and when I talk about love, I'm not talking about relationship love, boy and girl love. I'm talking about love for your fellow man, right? So compassion is just acknowledging someone else's distress or what they're going through, and you want to help them through that. For example, when I go grocery shopping and I'll see someone in one of those motorized scooters or whatever and by me being tall as well, you know I often ask do you need help to get anything off of the top shelf. That's compassion, that's showing love. And, matter of fact, about a year or so ago, when I was experiencing some foot pain, I was limping around and so forth, and at the grocery store again, as I was putting my items into the trunk of my car, I guess a lady just noticed me limping and, you know, trying to get it done on my own, given I was experiencing some uncomfortable uncomfortableness with my foot. And so she said can I take your card and put it up for you? And I was like, oh wow, sure I gladly accept. That's compassion. And guess what? It doesn't have to be linked to any type of culture or gender, to any type of culture or gender. It's just you being showing love to your fellow man in situations where they're unable to be 100% and doing what they need to do.
Speaker 1:So you need to teach your child about that, yeah, what it means to be compassionate and display compassion, because they are going to encounter people that may be less fortunate than they are, and they need to understand what it means to be empathetic. You just don't be rude. You acknowledge what they're going through by showing or lending a helping hand to that person or asking right. So how do we cultivate that ladies? How do we build that up in our children? How do we water the compassion seed? Well, I'm glad you asked me. I'm so glad you asked me. Well, they got to see you doing it.
Speaker 1:When's the last time you've shown compassion to someone that was in distress or struggling? When was the last time you did that? Wow, yeah, because we take so much for granted myself as well we take so much for granted, and when we see other people, you know, unfortunately, the mindset this day is I got mine, now you get yours. I don't know why you're like that, but oh well, I'm gonna keep it moving because I don't have your issues. So I'm going to keep it moving because I don't have your issues, so I'm going to keep it moving, so I don't need to display compassion.
Speaker 1:Well, this is where you're wrong, because we all, because, number one, we don't know where we're going to be in five years or 10 years. We just don't know. You know our bodies aren't made to be long term right To not experience any issues long term. So you're going to get sick. As long as you have breath in your body, you're going to be subject to your body just breaking down, to be subject to your body just breaking down, yeah. And the older you get, you know you may be arthritis or whatever. These things are going to attack your body and so you have to want in return someone displaying compassion for you. And that's how you explain it to your children. Yeah, they're running and jumping and having a wonderful time in life right now, but that's not going to last always. As they get older, as their body gets older, some things are going to start to hurt. Ask me how I know. Ask me how I know. Ask me how I know Other ways you can show compassion.
Speaker 1:If there are volunteer opportunities in your community or if you attend church, get involved with that. You know I took my kids at my church at the time. We had a soup kitchen every Saturday, so I took my kids down to work in the soup kitchen so that they can see what it's like and really understand how blessed they are that we can go to the grocery store. We can go get the food we can cook the food can go to the grocery store. We can go get the food we can cook the food where these folks generally maybe that's only one of the meals they get during the week that they have to come to a soup kitchen to eat. So it's explaining to them and I needed them to see that.
Speaker 1:So that's the other thing, ladies, as I talked about in the past. We can talk until we're blue in the face, but we have to allow our children to visually see these things. Why is that important? Because we learn through our eyes. We are visual people. We are visual people and it has greater impact than us just saying, hey, you need to be nice to so-and-so, hey, you need to know. Let them see it, let them see you, let them see you showing compassion.
Speaker 1:And here's the good news it's not that difficult. It really isn't. And like the example I gave you, in the grocery store, I see someone in a motorized scooter and we happen to be in the same aisle. It's just as simple as do you need help with anything? It's just that simple. Or like the lady saw me hobbling around with my bad foot and she just came and said would you like for me to put the card up for you? So don't overthink it. Like me, I have a tendency to overthink, but I encourage you, don't overthink it, just do it. Just do it and allow your children to see it and then guess what? They're going to start replicating your behavior. And that's good news, because we got to have that compassion characteristic in our life, because we're living among other people and, again, you don't know where you're going to be in 5, 10, 15 years, where you're going to need someone to display that compassion with you or them. And that's how you explain that.
Speaker 1:All right, ladies, this is it, brief and to the point, I hope. I hope you enjoyed today's episode. If you did, leave me some feedback. Mom to Mentor podcast, or go to singlemomsunitedpodcastcom or my YouTube channel. Leave me some encouraging words, please. A little encouragement goes a long way. It really does. And again, if you enjoyed this, tell another mom the Mom to Mentor podcast. It's not about how you arrived at the mom title, it's what you do with it. Remember you're more than just a nurturer and a provider. You are a mentor. That means your children. Your child is looking up to you for that motivation, that encouragement, that positive reinforcement, and we owe it to them because they didn't ask to come into this world right. So have a good day, ladies, a wonderful week and a marvelous month. Take care.
