Food and Water

The boys are trying to wrap their minds around the concept of how essential food and water are and how difficult it can be for many people in the world to get these two basic necessities.  The first part was easy for them.  But the second part?

As we talked about how many people don't have access to running water, we went outside and decided to pretend that we needed to go to a local pond:

...and gather water.

 But how to transport it???  hmmmmmmmm. 

 After one attempt at carrying it atop their head like we had seen in a book, we decided to try a new method. 

 They definitely preferred this method.

 If I was a brave momma, I would make them haul their own bathwater upstairs... 

But I am not that woman today.

We've also been discussing the idea that most people in the world don't eat like we do.  Few have choices and certainly don't have the luxury of being picky.  Keegan (4) is still pretty clueless, but Xander (6) was incredulous that there might be people who only get a bowl of rice a day...  Since rice is the mainstay for many in south Asia, we enjoyed learning about how it is grown in the book, Rice Is Life.  This rhyming tale of how rice is grown, while centered in the island of Bali is similar to how rice is grown in other parts of Asia as well.

If the boys were a little bit older, I think I would probably try a day or more of a simple rice diet.  But...  I'd rather not actually create any food battles, especially with the four year old and two year old.  We manage enough of that on our own!

We are in India now and have been really enjoying the video tour provided currently by Sonlight/Mission India.  Today we had a tour of a slum in Mumbai.  This has been helpful as I have been working on explaining the concept of poverty to them.

I'm realizing that this is a lesson we will need to revisit over and over again.  In our comfortable middle-class life even I find it hard to relate sometimes...  And I've been to third world countries and witnessed poverty with my own eyes.  But for now this was a start.

What have you all done to explain this to your children?