Getting your Children Interested in Volunteering

As kids grow, it is very necessary that we as parents start letting them imbibe those qualities that would help them in later life. Volunteering is one sure way of getting kids to start feeling a sense of responsibility as well as charity. On the other hand, it will make them inculcate leadership skills that will see them grow to be leaders in future. At the same time, it is a good way to get them engaged in meaningful things during the vacation, instead of letting them run loose and idle. Remember the say that “an idle mind is a devil’s workshop” and we wouldn’t want that to happen to our kids. Getting them involved in volunteering will equally help in bringing out their passion and talents, which should be nurtured (see our section on Discover your child’s hidden abilities). It will also make them more aware of their environment and how others live. We however acknowledge that it may be difficult to identify where and how kids may volunteer, so we offer the following tips.

• Identify what passions your child has
• You could as a family volunteer once in a while, this will set the pace for the kids
• Let them know that helping others without asking for payment is a very good way of building up goodwill
• Getting them to visit motherless babies homes and playing with the children may be a good way. It will also make them value you as parents. They could donate a few of their old toys, or raise money through you to buy new age appropriate toys for the kids
• Where there are old peoples home or seniors home, they could also visit and read to them and chat with them. They could even play some card games and board games with them. Your bond with them will grow
• They could volunteer in their various religious groups. They could teach other children or be part of the clean up group for the place of worship
• They could equally be part of the clean up crew of their favorite parks
•  You could get them to organize free vacation classes for the less privileged
• Where they have specialised skills in sports, arts and crafts, music or other vocations, they could teach other children
• In places that run soup kitchen for the less privileged, you could get them to help out