Teaching Children to Be Good Citizens

Audra Lowe: Parents wants to teach their kids the value of becoming a good citizen—sharing, caring and just being a good friend. And now there is a fun way to do just that through Scholastic and Clifford’s big idea. Female: What can you do? Child: We can pick up the garbage. Audra Lowe: Schools around the country is taking a little lesson from a big red dog. Clifford the big red dog to be precise, the favorite canine Scholastic mascot is making the rounds encouraging kids and adults to be big. Sara Sinek: Be Big is a community outreach program, an initiative that really reaches out to everyone whether you are big or small it encourages you to get involved and be a good citizen. Audra Lowe: Scholastic says there is four ways that you too can be big in your community. The first one is to make an effort to be big every day. Sara Sinek: Doing little things from sharing or being responsible, passing on the newspaper after you finish reading it to a colleague or a friend, picking up a piece of garbage on the street when you see it. Audra Lowe: Next make a promise and put it in writing. You can do that on the Scholastic website. Sara Sinek: I went on it yesterday and entered my promise that I'm going to read to my daughter every day. And we’re hoping to get 25,000 promises by the end of the year. Audra Lowe: And the third way to be big—enter the second annual Be Big Community contest that Scholastic is holding. Sara Sinek: People can enter a big idea and we’ll be granting $75,000.00 to big ideas to make them come to life in the community. Audra Lowe: Well last year’s winner wanted to make her local playground more accessible to her disabled friends and now that dream is being made into a reality. And the last way to be big this year is volunteering. Scholastic is partnering with hands-on network to offer a volunteer opportunities. Sara Sinek: That’s getting involved in the community in a while different way. Audra Lowe: And always remember even something small can make a big difference when it comes to making our world a better place. Sara Sinek: I think it makes you feel like a better person and I think you share a lot of goodwill with other people. Aura Lowe: The Be Big Community contest ends on June 30, so make sure you go and get your big idea in right now.