Teaching Kids Responsibility Toward their Community and Environment

When I went to see my two boys playing at the kids' community playground this afternoon, I noticed that their field needed some cleaning. Trash, mostly food wrappers made of plastics, was all around. So I asked my early teenager son to lead the community service and all his friends playing with him on that playground everyday simply followed him. His nice buddy even went to his house to get a garbage bin for them to put all the trash they collected.

They all felt good after doing a great job and jokingly vowed that they would penalize someone who would throw any trash around. Such a cooperation led them to even think more responsible and to be mindful of their environment. It just needs some adults to somehow guide them if they seem to forget to care about their environment until they themselves grow old to voluntarily do it themselves and also guide the next generations. Here in Malaysia, they call such community cooperation "Gotong Royong" and the kids want to preserve such caring for each other and for the community to their next generation.

Now, the village kids have left the garbage bin right at the playground, visible to the garbage collectors and the kids so that they will always be aware and reminded not to scatter their trash again.