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8 Ways Kids Can Volunteer In and Around Their Communities
Once your child enters high school they will most likely be required to meet 40 hours of community service, volunteering within the local school district as well as the community. The best way to encourage your child to shine when they arrive in high school with this requirement is to have them volunteer from the time they are young enough to know that they are helping. There are many ways kids can help their community and today we will discuss 10 ways kids can help their community as a means to instill compassion, kindness and the art of giving back within your child.
Help a Sick Neighbor – have your child make meals, draw pictures, run errands and complete other age appropriate tasks for a local neighbor that may have fallen sick.
Pick Up Litter – work as a family with your young children to pick up trash off the local roadways, nature areas, beaches and parks in and around your town.
Food Shelter – call your local food shelter to see if they need help with collecting goods, serving food, setting and cleaning up or other tasks that your child can do with you or alone.
Write Letters to Soldiers & Veterans – there are many deployed soldiers that would love anther connection to home while they are away. There are also veteran soldiers who would love some recognition! Look for websites where your child can sign up to send letters and care packages to both the deployed and veteran soldiers from your home town.
Treats & Thank You Notes for Fire & Police Men – bake up some treats and deliver them to the local fire and police stations as a thank you for their service. If your local stations do not accept home cooked foods, have your child select fruits and treats from a local store to take over to the police station and firehouse.
Start a Community Garden – create a vegetable garden in your backyard, grow more vegetables than your family needs and then deliver the extras free of charge to your neighborhood. Often times communities have cooperative gardens where kids can work.
Nursing Home – if your town has a nursing home, have your kid write mini-stories that they read to the elderly at the local nursing home to brighten the person’s day. They can go and play checkers or cards, play their musical instrument and hand out flowers.
Offer to Babysit for Free – depending upon how old your child is, you could work to help them care for neighbors little ones for free so they can go to work, have a break, etc. This is a wonderful service for people that is highly appreciated especially in low income areas where babysitting is often unaffordable for many families.
There are many ways kids can help their community, it simply is a matter of knowing what your child is capable of doing alone or with the family as well as finding out what is available in your local town for facilities that may need help. When you volunteer in your local community as a family, your kids learn the skills of compassion, kindness and appreciation; which will take them far in this world.
