Global Perspective-Great Idea

This morning on the bus I read an article describing a good, family-friendly global awareness exercise. I think we will try this, even though the kids are a little young. I think at a minimum it will be eye opening for Jeff and me.

So the family in the article had a big map of the world in their dining room. One day, one of the kids was eating a banana and peeled off the produce sticker that said "Costa Rica." The author, Mimi Minnick, showed the kid where Costa Rica was on the map and somewhat unconsciously put the sticker there. She realized instantly that she had unintentionally hit on a great way to teach her kids about the world.

Over the following weeks and months, the family (who, incidentally, does try to buy locally as much as possible) kept putting their "made in" stickers on the map. Seeking out merchandise labels and stickers required active participation and geography (and the products' corresponding price tags) took on new meaning. The author said that great conversations about the method of harvest and means of transporting fruit occurred spontaneously. Amazing.

The label hunt eventually expanded to clothing and other products. The kids were almost competitive in seeking far-flung places to post on the map. Sometimes, they even needed to search in an atlas to find obscure places like the Maldives or Lesotho.

Eventually, the novelty of the map game wore off, and stickers and labels didn't land on the map quite as often. But the family's interest in the origins of "stuff" was far from forgotten and the author's kids most certainly do not think that things just come "from a store" anymore.

The author seemed most pleased that she piqued her kid's interest in geography and travel, but I thought her kids' quotes were noteworthy.

Kate, 12 "When we started the game, I thought that most of the stuff we buy, eat and wear would come from America. It was hard to believe that so much of our food and clothes comes from so far away."

Ben, 11 "It seems kind of strange that our family buys lots of things from Central America and Indonesia, which are both pretty small, but we get almost nothing from Africa and Russia, which are both really big."

Game on.