How important it is to start getting our kids to help others while they are young and teach them how to empathize instead of thinking the world revolves around them. It is easy as a child to feel that your little world is all there is, especially when you are not shown that there is more. Recently I was reading an article in Parents magazine and it made me realize how important it is to start getting my children out there helping others, and how many things there really are even for children their age. My kids are 4 and 3 years old and now is a better time to start than waiting till they are older and more self involved than ever. When I was growing up I wasn't taken out to do any volunteer type of work, or shown what it means to try to take care of our Earth. Mostly it was due to having both of my parents working and not having the time to actually do it. I am going to list the ways that Parents magazine put in the article so that others can see some of the ways that we can start now while our children are young. I think this will help them, AND help us to be able to give back to others.
The #1 thing that stood out to me was seniors. Adopt a grandparent together. Call up a nearby assisted-living facility, and ask if any of its residents need someone to visit them. Seeing a child can brighten an elderly person's day. My children do not have grandparents here in Indiana that they can spend time with and be able to sit and listen to their stories or help them with things, or take walks with them. Grandparents are an essential part of every child's life and as an adult having someone your senior to talk to helps a lot too. We will be definitely doing this very soon! http://www.seniorliving.com/
2. Animals: Visit Defenders of Wildlife (defenders.org) http://www.kidsplanet.org/coolstuff lets the child adopt an endangered animal. The child will even get a stuffed version to play with. We will definitely be looking into this also, my son absolutely loves animals and I really think he would benefit from this.Okay i just looked through this and found the page for this : https://secure.defenders.org/site/SPageServer?pagename=wagc_ecoplush however they are definitely not free. It looks like for all of this it is a $40 donation for this.
3. Sick Children: Download a free kit from Alex's Lemonade Stand (alexslemonade.org) which has everything your child needs to set up a stand of his own. The proceeds go to the organization, which funds research for kids with cancer. How amazing would it be to have your children know that they are helping other kids that are sick and cannot be out there doing what they are doing! With this if you are too busy you can sign up to have a page to get donations online instead of doing a lemonade stand. There are different stand material to choose from. You can choose a strawberry shortcake stand or a basic lemonade stand. The items you get are:
1 Strawberry Shortcake banner, 2 Strawberry Shortcake stand advertisers, 1 recipe card for making strawberry shortcake and strawberry lemonade, 1 Strawberry Shortcake table tent, 1 Strawberry Shortcake coloring sheet, 26 Strawberry Shortcake stickers, 1 Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation poster, Country Time lemonade voucher, 1 cancer fact sheet with talking points for kids and adults, 1 company matching gift program slip, 1 Checks Payable sign, 1 Lucky Lemon Tips sheet, 1 stand host information and donation sheet, 1 pad of thank you notes, ALSF brochures and an ALSF social media information card, & 1 pre-paid donation return envelope
4. The Earth: Go to epa.gov/kids, where you can join the EPA's kids club. Your child will get a membership certificate along with tips for reducing yoru carbon footprint and preserving precious resources.
5. kids from other countries: Find a penpal from a developing nation through projectknapsack.org, which will arrange to have your family send a backpack filled with school supplies to a student.
6. Needy Families: Attend a kidsagainsthunger.org food-packing session. In about two hours, you and your child can easily fill up two large boxes, which comes out to 432 meals.
7. His whole community: Have your child start a Kids Care Club at his school or day-care center or your church. Each month the group takes on a new service project. Go to kidscare.org for more information.
These are a few of the things that we can do now to start getting our kids involved in helping others and developing a loving and giving heart. I have often thought about taking them to a nursing home, but haven't done it. It definitely takes more than thinking to get it done. If you decide to do one or some of these things please don't hesistate to share what you are doing and/or what you are doing that's different. I am hoping to continue to add to this about our experiences with volunteering and how the kids do along the way. I hope this inspires others to get out there and teach our children that there is a lot more to living than just taking care of ourselves, many others cannot do what we can, and need our help.
