Teaching children to think of others

I am writing this whilst watching BBC Children in Need with my children. Since they have been at school this annual event has really helped them to think about those less fortunate than themselves. My daughter at 10 understands more than her 7 old brother, to him its all about wearing a onesie and buying cakes:

The key to getting children into raising money does seem to be putting fun into the event. My daughter will do things like paint nails and she has run the Race for Life with me 3 times in total:

With the disaster in the Philippines making the headlines on their news as well as the grown up news they have asked me to send a contribution. They know that people their have lost everything except the clothes on their backs. Compared to them we are incredibly well off so I have given what I can afford. 

Tomorrow my son and I are doing the Santa Dash in Kendal in aid of our local Cancer Care charity. It's only about a mile in total but its all about the festive fun and doing our little bit to help, if you want to help us then please click the button below:

How do you get your children to think of others?

#CharityTuesday: Living Streets #GBwalk

Following on from yesterday's Family Fun post here is a bit more about the charity and the challenge:

Living Streets is here to create better, safer streets where people want to walk. We stand up for pedestrians just like you. We campaign for change that will help cut road deaths and put people first. We work with millions of school children to get them walking to school and we work to make our streets more enjoyable places to be.

Our streets are the one public service that everyone uses, but it’s all too easy to take them for granted. Many of our streets are poorly maintained, unsafe and make it difficult for more vulnerable people to get about. And getting people walking can be crucial to tackling a range of issues, from helping people get healthier to bringing communities together. We want to see living streets for everyone, but we can only continue our campaigning activity with the help of donations.

The Great British Walking Challenge is the perfect way get involved and contribute. Simply ask your friends, family or colleagues to sponsor your Great British Walking Challenge. You’ll be doing your bit for safer streets as you walk and it’s really easy to get started.



Three easy steps to get fundraising

1. Register for the Great British Walking Challenge 


Make sure you register for the Great British Walking Challenge at www.livingstreets.org.uk/gbwc


Here you’ll be able to log your minutes, miles or steps walked throughout the month.  
You can include all your walking whether it’s to work, school, the shops, the hairdresser  
or when you’re out walking the dog. You’ll be able to keep track of how you’re doing throughout the month.


2. Set yourself a goal

Kendal Race for Life 2011

On Sunday my 7 year old daughter and I gathered with over 800 ladies and girls of various ages at a cold and damp Westmorland Showground for the Kendal Race for Life. I have to admit that on arrival neither of us was feeling particularly enthusiastic but after a little while the atmosphere and the sea of pink and sparkly things really got us fired up. The team of Dan and Yakkers from Lakeland Radio were doing a great job at getting everyone motivated and very soon my daughter was like a little pink Duracell bunny jumping up and down and getting lots of people laughing:

Before we started it was down to my Rosemary Conley instructor Caytie to warm us all up with music We are family and Sisters are doing it for themselves. This certainly not only stretched out the muscles but got us inspired for what was to come and a laugh with Yakkers joining in:

Then it was time to decide whether you were a runner or a walker and choose which flag to line up behind. We went for the back of the runners as we thought jogging was a good option. My daughter's classmate set off the starting hooter and it was off on a 5 km route around the Crooklands countryside. My daughter shot off and I didn't see much of her for the next 2 km:

It was quite a hilly route but reading the messages on the backs of people's tops were and inspiration to keep going. When I caught up with my daughter we managed to combine walking and jogging to get us through the rest of the route. I have to admit it was a relief to see the finish line ahead as we hadn't done any proper training for the event and it was hard work! On the last leg with people cheering us on and Yakkers giving us a name check it inspired us to make a sprint finish to cross the line 45 minutes after we started (20 minutes faster than 2 years ago!). 

Two tired but happy bunnies at the end! It looks like we raised £150 for our efforts so we are very pleased with ourselves and if you would like to add to our total please click on the link at the top right of the blog. We want to do it again next year but with a bigger group so if you'ld like to join us please leave a message below!