January 18, 2006

What does citizenship mean?

Good citizenship is showing concern for ourselves and others around us. A good citizen treats others as he or she would like to be treated.

Do you think of safety for yourself and others before you do things? Do you consider other people's feelings before you say or do something that might hurt them? Do you accept other people who are different from you and try to make friends with them?

Being a good neighborhood citizen is more than just meeting your neighbors. It means showing your neighbors you care. Some ways to do this are:

• Keeping your pets and sports equipment out of the neighbor's yard.
• Giving your neighbors flowers or food from your garden.
• Helping your neighbors with yard work.
• Respecting your neighbor's property and privacy.
• Cleaning up around the outside of where you live to make your neighborhood look better.
• Keeping an eye out for your neighbor--don't be nosy, but notice things that are "out of the ordinary." An example could be: When you know the neighbors go to bed at 10 and lights are on until morning, something could be wrong--someone could be sick or something else could be wrong.

Have you done anything lately to show your neighbors you care?

Good citizens work together to make a safe community, whether by starting a neighborhood watch or working with the schools to do volunteer playground duty. Citizens also learn about government systems. They obey the laws and when they are old enough, they vote and often run for offices such as school board, city council, county government, state legislature or congress.

Good citizenship involves more than understanding and participating in government. Good citizenship is important in relationships with your family, friends and neighbors. Citizenship means understanding and appreciating yourself and your heritage and having the same respect for other people and their heritages.

The important thing about citizenship is to act on what you learn and be a good citizen. Learning about citizenship is not enough. People have to act on what they learn.

(Kia Harries is a 4-H youth development educator with the University of Minnesota Extension Service Regional Center, Worthington)

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URL: http:// www.extension.umn.edu/extensionnews/2005/citizenship.html  This page was updated Jan. 18, 2006 .
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