Speranța Poenar
We live in a society which is always evolving in each field, economic, cultural, social, and obviously in the field of education. All our lives, we tend to run and climb the social ladder hierarchically from the different environments we belong to, but in this competition with ourselves and growing up, we forget about essential things that define us as human entities. There is a necessarily need for us to remember about the social values of a community, such as empathy, offering help regardless we do not obtain something in change and definitely sharing. Sharing may come in many forms: sharing information, sharing intercultural habits and lifestyles, sharing memories, sharing principles and values, sharing educational methods. In this article we are going to discuss about sharing within the educational instructional process, from the point of view of a teacher.
Teachers play a fundamental and defining role in children evolution. They are offering to their class a part of themselves, and they are preparing the children of today for the adults of tomorrow. From a young age we need to transmit to the young generation the idea of sharing. Each one of us at a least a moment in this life we needed help in one point of view, we should remember the feeling we had, and happiness we felt when it was given by somebody. Sharing is such a pure feeling; it brings joy and fills the soul with wonderful sensations. Sharing for toddlers may be hard to understand, they may have the feeling if they share the toys, they will never get them back, but we play the role to apply the most suitable methods for them to understand this quality. The ”art of sharing” represents a big step, so we should approach it with baby steps, the kids are making friends in kindergarten or school, we will be able to offer them the opportunities to work in collaboration with each other. Sharing plays an important role in the social field, emotional field and cognitively field and it will help them to integrate in an easiest way in the society.
We live in a world which is never sleeping, always finding new objectives, new technologies, but we can never forget about ourselves and about the people surrounding us. One of the best feelings in the world is to share and to see the reaction we get from the people, the most sincere we could possibly get. If we pay attention and we induce this idea to the young generation, and we are going to grow them up with values of offering, sharing, paying attention to other one’s needs we can assure the society that we were responsible of given a generation which will not forget about their grandparents and they will not remain indifferent to the racism, bullying, laughing of other colleagues.
Activities for developing the pride of sharing
Next, I will present to you some activities with toddlers, where we discussed about the subject of sharing. The first activity was represented about a discussion of this topic with them. At first the children were a little bit intrigued, so we did an interactive and fun activity. They planted seedlings by themselves and after they finished, they had to offer their work with somebody they wanted. At the end of the activity they went and gave the little present, a little bit ashamed, but after they saw the reactions from the persons they were so happy and excited.
The second activity was their own idea, they wanted to give something special to the nature, because it has been giving such special things and resources over the years. They created a painting for Mother Nature with their own little hands as a gift for everything.
What can children offer?
At the end of the day, I asked them what they can offer to their colleagues, parents and to a stranger. Their answers were:
- A smile or a hug
- To behave nicely at home or kindergarten
- To share their meal with a friend
- To share their toys
- To share their feelings
And one of the most surprisingly answer was to share their clothes and meal with a child who doesn’t have to much of this point of view. Don’t forget to share a little bit when you have the occasion. We can be the change we want to see and all starts with ourselves, so do not waste time, go out and share, anything you can, a smile, a hug, a kiss, a salute, a coffee. We all are amazing, each one of us in different way and we all have a lot to give of share.