{"id":6915,"date":"2011-09-21T12:51:00","date_gmt":"2011-09-21T16:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/askdoctorg.com\/?p=1006"},"modified":"2021-05-10T14:09:18","modified_gmt":"2021-05-10T19:09:18","slug":"mommy-why-is-that-person-sleeping-on-the-sidewalk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/askdoctorg.com\/mommy-why-is-that-person-sleeping-on-the-sidewalk\/","title":{"rendered":"Mommy, why is that person sleeping on the sidewalk?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>My 4 yo daughter recently started to understand that there are people in our city who are homeless, and she will sometimes point out a person on the sidewalk and ask me if he or she is homeless. How do I respond?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><em>Talia, in San Francisco, CA<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Talia, I think our kids are best off with the truth. It is OK to give her a simple \u201cYes, sweetie.\u201d Then wait to see what she says or asks.<br \/>\nMost preschoolers and young elementary school children will follow this up with \u201cWhy?\u201d The harder question for sure. Here you just need to think about what your child is ready to hear. Some possible true answers for different types of kids and different developmental levels:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m not sure.\u201d True of course, since everyone has a different story. This teaches that we don\u2019t have to know back story to have sympathy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSome people don\u2019t have a place to live. I think that must be hard.\u201d Teaching empathy but not expecting a lot of deep philosophical musings from your child.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy don\u2019t you tell me what you think?\u201d Great for getting a kid to express their concerns or feelings, you aren\u2019t refusing to answer their question, just engaging them in a little conversation first.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSome people are not as (lucky\/blessed\/fortunate) as we are. Would you like to do something to help people who have less?\u201d For a kid who is a do-er, this can be really empowering. Guide your child to a related activity. You can search your house for some unused toiletries or linens to donate to a shelter, you can detour to the grocery store for some gift cards to give to the next homeless person she encounters. If you have the time and inclination, the two of you can volunteer for a neighborhood clean up or at a homeless shelter cleaning or serving food. You might be surprised how many volunteer opportunities let kids come along.<\/p>\n<p>Talking about these issues with our kids teaches them empathy and also responsibility.\u00a0 You have the power to raise a child who will look head on at the problems in society and search for solutions!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My 4 yo daughter recently started to understand that there are people in our city who are homeless, and she will sometimes point out a person on the sidewalk and ask me if he or she is homeless. How do I respond? Talia, in San Francisco, CA Talia, I think our kids are best off [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[64,59,60,37,38,63],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Mommy, why is that person sleeping on the sidewalk? - Ask Dr. G<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/askdoctorg.com\/mommy-why-is-that-person-sleeping-on-the-sidewalk\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mommy, why is that person sleeping on the sidewalk? - Ask Dr. G\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"My 4 yo daughter recently started to understand that there are people in our city who are homeless, and she will sometimes point out a person on the sidewalk and ask me if he or she is homeless. 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