Inspiring Greatness in Our Children from a Young Age

Thank you Allstate for sponsoring this post. I chose to write this post because doing good in local communities is at Allstate’s core.

A few weeks ago, Addison came home so excited to tell her father and I about an idea that she and a friend at school brought to their teacher to recognize the custodians at their school.  As a next step, she was instructed to create a document with ideas on how to execute this project.

I beamed as I watched her excitedly get on the computer, log into Google, and craft a document that she would later print out, outlining her ideas for a Custodian Appreciation Week.

As a member of a sorority, I do my fair share of giving back to my local community, through a variety of activities and donations. It made me smile to see her putting so much effort and excitement into a selfless act, and the thought that my community service may have had an impact on her desire to help others makes me want to do more for our community.

Addison has the biggest heart for others, she’s been known to ask me to get in our neighborhood Facebook group and ask for clothing so she can donate it to children in need.  During our visit to the African American History Museum, she expressed sadness about racism in America, and in the next breath told me how she plans to help other people at her school understand why racism is wrong, and what they can do to stop it.

She is certainly a child of action. I honestly believe some of her dedication towards dance, and other interests comes from being exposed to them at a young age. This is why I’m honest with her about the state of things in our world. From a young age I wanted her to be concerned for things that will affect her generation and know that she has a voice and an obligation to do what she can to change things, even for one person.

Action inspires, and that rings true for children as well. Allstate believes that today’s youth aren’t waiting on the gatekeepers to make change, they are doing it themselves. These children are technologically savvy, and eager to create change. Their fervor to create change spawns lifelong transferable skills, that for a lack of better words, will make them good humans. I mean, some adults haven’t even mastered critical social and emotional learning skills like problem-solving, empathy and teamwork. We all know the best lessons don’t happen in the classroom, and these skills will help ensure their future success.

So cliché, but everything we do as parents is setting a stage for either excellent or subpar behavior, and we have to be careful with our actions because they create habits not just for us, but for them as well.

Allstate stands behind this thought process as well.  They work to empower young people in the communities they live and work in to become leaders and change-makers.

Learn more about what Allstate is doing in local communities and the work they are doing to empower youth.

Their dedication to the communities where they live and work is at the core of Allstate’s  belief system.

I charge us as parents to instill the importance of community giving into our children at an early age. These things will be second nature to them as adults and as a result they will instinctively do what’s right when it comes to giving back and helping out members of not only their communities, but all communities.

A life of true activism can never start too early.

This post was written as part of the Allstate Influencer Program and sponsored by Allstate. All opinions are mine. As the nation’s largest publicly held personal lines insurer, Allstate is dedicated not only to protecting what matters most–but to guiding people to live the Good Life, every day.