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Think fast parents, how old is old enough to start teaching your kids about helping others? Not sure? Maybe this will help. A little girl named Reilly Rudolph just became the youngest person to ever receive the city of Detroit's biggest award for community service. Any guesses how old she is?
Five! As in younger than most kids are when they learn to tie their shoes and start losing baby teeth! And this cutie pie is already the face behind the huge Halloween project that made sure the sick kids at the Detroit's Children's Hospital had more than 100 painted pumpkins to get them through the holidays this past October. And yes, she designed this -- not her parents. At just 5!
There's a lesson in there for the rest of us not to underestimate what our kids can do, even if they're just itty bitty things.
I know I'm guilty. My kiddo is 6 -- a whole year older than Reilly -- and I'll confess we haven't done a whole lot. She's helped us take her old toy kitchen to the local community center and donated books to the library. She's been in attendance at every single St. Baldrick's event where I've shaved my head for children's cancer. Last week she even helped me bring a bag of food to donate to the local pantry's food drive. But she hasn't really been an active participant in any of those -- aside maybe from picking out some old toys and books of hers to donate.
But when I sit down and think about it, I'm not exactly sure why I haven't pressed her to do more. It's not the way I was brought up. The way my mom saw it, kids are never too young to get off their butts and give back to someone else. My kid brother and I were serving at our church's pancake breakfasts and peeling potatoes at the church's Thanksgiving dinner for folks without a family as far back as I can remember.
I won't call it a mom fail that I haven't pushed my kiddo to do the same, but let's just say Reilly's definitely prodded me to get my act in gear on the charitable kid front. She's 6, that's plenty big enough to make a difference in her community.
How about we all get on this and consider that this little phenom's second great miracle? Is Reilly your new hero too?
Image by Jeanne Sager
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
