by Tracee Sioux

Be kind to your children. They will pick your nursing home.

When my mentoring group was looking for a service project and the idea to visit a nursing home came up, I took the group to see my children's great-grandfather. There is a sign on Grandpapa's wall that says Be kind to your children, They will pick your nursing home.

Children record everything we do, it's vital to teach them how to treat those older than them and those more vulnerable. If you can show the more vulnerable they have the power to cure loneliness in the elderly. . . well, that's two birds.

I don't just want my children to want to help people. I want them to feel powerful enough to do something to improve things.

As faith without action is dead, empathy and compassion without action is both painful and useless.

It does no one any good to feel bad about the situations girls face if we're not going to do anything about it. It's little help to feel sad for the elderly if you're not going to do visit them.

I want my children to feel compassion and empathy. But, not if it's only futile pain in their hearts. I want them to know and understand that the power to change the world rests in their hands.