Philanthropy

I have been debating whether to include philanthropy in my values book, since we already have charity. The two are closely aligned these days since the meaning of philanthropy (love of people) has shifted to accommodate modern society. But, I tried it out on the kids. In my introduction, I have pointed out that the distinction between philanthropy and charity is that philanthropy uses private money to solve problems at their roots, while charity uses public and government money to help alleviate pain. Both important, but different. I try out my classroom projects on the kids, before I include them in my book. So, this weekend, when there was nothing to do because Alex and I had pneumonia and Izzy had bronchitis, we spent a nice morning working on our philanthropy projects. After a brief discussion about how philanthropy solves problems at their roots, I asked the kids to draw/paint/color a picture of a philanthropic organization which solves a problem in the world. I threw out a few suggestions: animals, children, water, and environmental cleanup. After some thought, and building upon a previous conversation I had had with Alex, he decided he would draw a picture of a "poop water cleanup house that also grows watermelons because you can eat watermelons to stay hydrated if you have no water to drink" and he guessed he would place this philanthropy in Africa. So, he drew a lovely picture of poop water (sewage) with nice big brown blobs in it, going into the house and clean water coming out. Then he drew his watermelon patch. He actually made 7 different attempts and decided in the end that none of them was perfect, so he crumpled them all up and drew a picture of punctuality (the other value we have been studying this week) with a picture of him arriving to school on time, and fireworks going off in the distance. He mentioned that the fireworks start at 8am and school starts at 9am, so if you get there early you get to see the fireworks because "the early bird gets the worm", which was our quote of the week. Izzy, building upon her brother's comments, decided she would place her philanthropy in Mexico (which we had been studying this month) and would create a watermelon company that also made ice cream, because both would keep you hydrated if you were thirsty. She decided that she would serve ice cream with watermelon on top. Her artwork is amazing. She has grandma's talent for sure. In the end, she also added a cotton candy cart that could be pushed all around selling beautifully colored cotton candy, because everyone loves cotton candy. She drew a picture of a little girl eating her ice cream with watermelon on top and as I spelled them, she wrote Watermelon and Ice Cream Philanthropy. As often happens when we study a value, we tend to hear it everywhere. Last night while watching The Wizard of Oz, the wizard described philanthropy to the Tinman and was having trouble saying it. Both kids knew it and shouted it out. I think in the end I will include philanthropy. It's President's Weekend. If you looking for projects to do with your kids today, a short project on philanthropy, as described above would be fun. Write the word, define it, explain it, give examples, then allow your children to create their own philanthropy through drawing and writing. Be their guide and cheerleader.