Who Are the People In Your Neighborhood?

Teach your children about the different professions that make our world go round through the American Worker Series from our sponsor Kronos.

Have you ever asked your children where their food or clothes come from?  My dad has the chance to ask these questions to groups of second-graders each year through his work with local farming agencies, and he says the answer is mostly the same: The store.  He then educates the children about where their food and clothes actually come from and all of the things that have to happen before those items show up on the shelves of the store.

Children often don’t realize that there are people behind the scenes making it so we have conveniences such as electricity, food and water.   In fact there are so many people out there that we rely on for the comforts we enjoy, but whose work often goes unrecognized.

When we go on vacation and show up at a nice hotel to a clean room, do our children recognize who cleaned it?  Who built the building we are staying in?  How did we get there?  Did someone fly our plane, or drive a taxi or shuttle?

And what child doesn’t love watching the garbage truck come and pick up the trash?  Do they realize how much the driver of the garbage truck does for us?  Imagine life without them!

I remember growing up singing the song, “Who Are the People In Your Neighborhood” which talked about the different jobs that people do that collectively make our world go round.

I have loved sharing the “1 in One Hundred Million Web Series” with my children recently, which is dedicated to spreading the word about people who do unrecognized jobs throughout our communities.  My boys have been fascinated learning about people who make baseball bats or wrangle alligators as a living.  They are also learning a lot about truck drivers, hotel clerks, grocery store managers and the people we run into every day, but don’t give much thought to the importance of their jobs.

When we make our children aware of the different professions out there and the work that goes in to those jobs, they can start to gain a better understanding and appreciation for the people in their own neighborhood.

In the latest video, Dana Sue Kimbal takes us behind the scenes of the Coeur Rochester Mine, which is a silver mining operation in northern Nevada.  They produce over 4 million ounces of silver each year which is used make coins, jewelry, and any other products that require pure silver, such as solar panels.  She shares her dedication to not only her job, but also in educating teachers about the mining industry so they can pass that information on to their students. She says their industry slogan is  “If it isn’t grown, it has to be mined”.

We’ve really enjoyed watching the 1 in One Hundred Million web series and think the videos are a great way to educate children (and adults) about what goes on behind the scenes of the professions that make our communities thrive.