Giving Back

Our kids could really help make the world a better place. My son came home from school telling me about a community service project he signed up for, and I suddenly remembered his teachers discussing this earlier in the year. He attends a regular public school, that just so happens to require 10 hours of community service per year for all students. He's really excited about the project he signed up for, and mentioned that he'll be helping out at one of the middle school buildings with upkeep of some kind. Of course, being a teenage boy, getting details out of this kid is like pulling teeth. Each time we talk I get a little more information, and right now this is all I have. :) Along with, "will you drive me up there on Saturday". I'm really impressed that his school chooses to focus a little of the kids' learning on giving back to the community. It seems these days that schools are too focused on teaching to tests, but here's an example of schools trying to teach to the whole child, teaching them to think beyond themselves for a moment. Even if it's just a few hours here and there. I'm also impressed that my kiddo is excited about this experience. Sometimes it's easy to get jaded about "kids these days" and I do worry on occasion that I'm not teaching him enough about the world and community, or to think outside his pretty sheltered life. Ironically, right here in the same week, I also just read a very interesting blog post on "Generation G" for Generosity over at http://www.nashvillewrapscommunity.com/blog/?p=410
Could really this be a trend? Hope might prevail after all.