By: Cristy Clavijo-Kish
Founder & Co-Publisher
This week I may have heard the best religious message I have in a very long time and I immediately thought of our Tweens. But its application for daily life is far broader. It was the children’s mass on Palm Sunday and our pastor wanted to illustrate for our much younger parishioners the difference between choosing a carriage and choosing a donkey for your transportation. To make a long explanation short, he illustrated that Christ chose a donkey as his ‘mode of transportation’ when he really could have chosen a much more elaborate animal or traveled more regally. Since he didn’t, then the challenge was issued to all present: in our daily lives how can we choose more simple paths and find the humility essential to sharing our lives with others?
Humility and empathy may be one of the hardest ideals to impart in our children. It’s not a one-time effort but an ongoing practice and process. Without having to cite any religious reference, these two words are essential to creating future adults that care about each other and strive to help others.
So our family goal this Holy Week is to focus on simplicity, humility and helping others. My tweens will be buying food with their money and donating it, volunteering and having quiet time. And quiet time may be the hardest part of it all! But we won’t stop after this week- it’s a learning process that continues.
How do you work to instill humility and empathy in your kids- mainly at 7-12 years of age? Please share your ideas.
Happy Easter- Felices Pascua
The LosTweens & Teens Familia
As a mother of twin tweens in 2011 and an active Girl Scout Troop leader, Cristy realized there was a need to develop bilingual digital content and foster a community facing the challenges of raising kids after first grade. That year she founded and remains co-Publisher of Los Tweens & Teens, to support multicultural parents and mentors with content related to raising Gen Z- tweens & teens ages 7-18. Through the Los Tweens & Teens LIVE events such as Teens & Me – the growing team aims to provide our community with essential resources from chats with therapists to battle anxiety and bullying, to understanding social media and technology.