Reading free children's stories on serving others will help young kids to understand how important it is to put other people's needs first at times. Kids often have to learn how to share things and how to get along with others. Part of being a caring and thoughtful person is knowing how to help people, whether they're less fortunate than you, or just someone who needs help at a particular time.
Parents may be on the lookout for stories that illustrate this concept to their children. Fortunately, with resources you'll find on the Internet, you can read these stories to your kids (or have them read the stories) at no cost.
Serving Others
You don't have to practice a certain religion or faith to serve others. Many people help the homeless, the infirm, prisoners or the elderly every day. When you teach kids at a young age how to put other people's needs first and not always focus on themselves and their own desires, you help them develop empathy and kindness.
Some ways families can serve others include:
- Feeding the homeless at shelters
- Visiting nursing homes
- Cooking meals for the elderly
- Shopping for a disabled person
It's also a good idea to teach kids that charity begins at home. They can help their parents and siblings by doing tasks without being told all the time. A thoughtful child may perform any of these duties and help someone in the process:
- Set the table for meals
- Help prepare meals
- Weed the garden
- Wash cars
- Make their brother or sister's bed
- Sweep the floor
- Fold laundry
- Help a sibling with homework
Find Free Children's Stories on Serving Others
For parents or caregivers seeking free children's stories on serving others, these resources can help:
- Jeremiah Project contains a wealth of moral short stories. The site makes it easy to find the lesson you want to teach by listing the values next to each story. "Misty Mountain" instills the value of serving others in a child-friendly story about two bears named Benji and Bambi. "Baby Polar Bears" is another tale that teaches children how important it is to help the poor. This site provides a good, well-rounded lesson plan for a number of moral values that parents may find interesting.
- Family Fun Shop introduces children to fun moral characters that they can relate to, as well as a number of short stories that teach core values. Clicking on links for "Kindness," "Charity," "Helping," "Caring" and "Compassion" will lead to free stories that children can learn from. To make it easy to read online, an illustration and a sentence or two accompanies each page of the story. Kids can click the "Next Page" link to move on in the story.
- KidTips features a list of books that you can check out from your library, all of which relate a story of helping or serving others. If you can't find the book in your library, consider asking for it as a gift for a birthday or holiday.
The Best Example
One of the best ways for adults to instill the spirit of serving in their children is to demonstrate it themselves. Take your children with you if you choose to help at a homeless shelter; go as a family and sing Christmas carols at a nursing home; perform random acts of kindness for family members. Every positive action you take has an impact on your kids. They'll learn how to serve others when the grownups in their lives not only show them how, but surround them with stories about these helpful acts as well.
