Who are the people in your neighborhood?

 Two well-known children's programs from the past, Sesame Street and Mr. Roger's Neighborhood, both have encouraged children to know their neighborhood.  Mr. Roger's kind voice asking the children "Won't you be my neighbor?" is a common phrase we can probably all recall.  

With the past few years of isolation and heightened anxiety, we haven't been out and about meeting our neighbors or talking to them.  However, part of our social studies curriculum is to teach children where and how they belong in their community.  It starts with knowing who lives near you - are there people are different from you, elderly, families with babies?  Interaction with people with diverse backgrounds is very important for children to build understanding of the world. 

When children understand their location, as simple as a house number, a road, and landmarks nearby, they begin to visualize how a map might work.  But they also need to know the important people in their neighborhood:  Do they know who the police officer is?  The mailman?  The bankers?  The librarian?  When they know who the helpers are in their neighborhood, children have a sense of belonging and safety.  Of course, all interactions with neighbors should be done with parent supervision in order to maintain a safe experience.

The next question is, how do we help our neighbors?  It's so valuable for our children to learn how to serve others maybe by bringing over a treat to a neighbor who lives alone, helping to shovel a sidewalk, or rake up leaves of an elderly neighbor.  Everyone benefits from a community that reaches out to help each other and we want to teach our children this when they are young.  Let's teach our kids how to be good neighbors!