How do you talk to your children about children living across the world? Share your tips with the new Save the Children Club - chance to win £100 NOW CLOSED

[AnnMumsnet]

Save the Children has recently launched a new Club for children that gives 7-11 year old children from the UK the chance to explore the everyday life of a child on the other side of the world without leaving their living room!

To help promote this they'd love to hear your tips on encouraging your children to think about children and their lives across the world.

How aware are your children of the situation some children find themselves in, and what prompts conversations about this?

The team at Save the Children Club say "the Club allows children to have a space to celebrate things in their lives that are the same, whilst starting to understand what makes their lives different, from children in other parts of the world".

"After a parent or guardian signs up to the Club, their child will receive a welcome pack that includes a massive world map, an official Club badge and lots of stickers. They'll then receive three Club packs throughout the year bursting with educational activities, great games and fun facts, focusing on a girl or boy from a different country".

"As a Club member, children will also get access to the exclusive Save the Children Club website, where new activities are added every month. Highlights might include activities such as playing a child’s favourite game, learning a few words from their language, making a model of their house, reading their favourite story and cooking a local dish".

To join, parents or guardians simply sign up for a monthly donation of £7.50. Donations will directly support Save the Children's work around the world – meaning other children get the chance of a better future.

Please share on this thread your comments about the Club or about raising awareness of the issues faced by children in many other countries – everyone who does so will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £100 Book Token.

Thanks and good luck

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We read, we travel, we watch the news together and discuss what we see. I think it is important for them to understand that not everyone is as privileged as they are and also to understand that it is not about saying 'look at us we are better than you' but appreciating that although other cultures do things differently it does not mean they are better or worse.

I try to use every opportunity available for my children to experience new things and understand different cultures.

We already donate to several other charities and this club seems a good idea but I am not sure if we would be interested in it, perhaps if it was broader we might like it but to focus on one child feels like a missed opportunity.

I like the idea of the club, although we do already sponsor a child through another charity and don't necessarily feel that it needs to be made 'child friendly' for my children to understand about other people's lives.

School also do projects about other parts of the world and I think that is helpful.

We talk about how people in different countries eat different foods, wear different clothes and do different things depending on where they live and what's available. My 5 yr old understands why we give donations to people who aren't as lucky as we are to have the things we have.

We sponsor a little boy in Bolivia who's the same age as my DS2. We get photos and little drawings from him, and my boys enjoy helping to think of (small, light, flat) things we can send to him. Match Attax football cards went down very well - clearly a worldwide obsession with overpaid premiership footballers! I do think it's important that they realise how lucky they are - their school also does the Operation Christmas Child shoebox scheme and they really connected with choosing toys and gifts and loved watching the videos of children receieving their boxes.

At the moment we haven't really discussed these issues as our children are only 4 and 23 months so I think they are a bit young. I do feel it is important to talk about how children in other parts of the world live and how they may be lacking in a lot of the things that my children may take for granted. When the time comes I will be making sure that my children are educated on the work that is being done to help other children around the world by chariries such as Save the Children.

We have sponsored a child through Plan UK for several years now - a young girl in Brazil. By exchanging letters and photos it has been a great experience for my daughters and opened their eyes to the wider world. Their primary school also has links with an orphanage in India, which they regularly have contact with and raise money for.

This club sounds like a good idea when DD is older. She's only little so I talk to her about how children in other countries do, eat, sing and wear different things. It's always been focused on the positives so far.

We discuss issues around this when days like Comic Relief come up and the school are doing fundraising around this - it's a good vehicle for talking about why things are different in other countries. There are a few stories like Handa's Hen which show life in other countries and have sparked discussion.

I work for charities working on international development. As the children have got older, they ask more questions about what I'm doing - particularly if I've had to travel as part of my work (doesn't happen often). It's difficult to make that real for them. I recently went to Bangladesh and when I got back, the BBC were doing a series of features on Bangladesh - my son was fascinated by that as I had just been to the places they featured.

In principle, I think the club is an interesting idea. But I think there's a risk of forcing it on some children, who just won't be interested. I joined the Woodland Trust club for children - my son loves outdoors and nature things, but because it was more structured, it didn't work for him.

We live in Brazil, although it's developed this is only recent so many people still talk about how things were. Their dad has spoken to them about the troubled past of the country and how it is still like that in many countries.

Being British they were used to a very priviledged lifestyle where even poor children can have lots of toys and clothes. Here the poorer children only have a few toys as they are very expensive so that has opened their eyes to see that material possessions are not that important and that children can be just as happy with far less.

Their father has also travelled and worked in some African countries and has told them about children living with raw sewage in the streets, not enough food, no access to education and medicine or in houses that are make-shift shacks. The older children have thought about this although I'm not sure to what extent.

We live rurally so we have good state hospitals and all the schools are good and well equipt, so they are a little sheltered from regions where things may not be so good. We have spoken about inner city communities (favelas) who are living with gang violence and overcrowded hospitals or in the North where schools are not so well equipt, also they do work on this at school too.

I would welcome information about countries and lifestyles that are very different to theirs, as they all seem interested in other countries and lifestyles.

Our conversations are usually inspired by a news story or something they've learned at school. The way I find it best to help them understand is to draw comparisons between their own lives and whatever the subject matter is. We ask them why they think a situation has arisen and what would need to happen for it to change.

We alsoffer remind them often of how lucky they are, not just for treats but for education and healthcare etc. I volunteered at the Foodbank for a time and this inspired lots of conversations. They are generally very interested in the differences in the way in which other people live across the world.

*also

Hello - thanks for all the comments: am pleased to say loosechange wins the £100 Book Token