Teach children the importance of thanking those in authority who help and protect them on a daily basis such as teachers, police officers, older relatives, doctors and firefighters. Explain some specific duties of these leaders so the children can get an idea of what they do to serve people. Finally, you can have each child write a thank-you letter to someone in authority and bring the letters to the fire station, their classroom or the police station.
Discuss the proper ways to treat senior citizens and suggest practical ways that your children can show generosity towards them. For example, you may help your children bake cookies or cake to bring as a gift to senior citizens in the neighborhood. If your children are old enough, they can run errands for the elderly or do chores like cutting the grass.
Since gratitude and generosity are important ingredients in a friendship, teach the children how to practice these skills in their friendships. Talk about the benefits of these traits in building healthy friendships, and give examples of how you've shown these attitudes in your friendships over the years.
Take your children to a local homeless shelter and let them assist shelter workers in serving meals to the residents. Then have the children meet with some of the residents so they can learn compassion for those who are homeless.