It's important from an early age to instill a sense of community in our kids — the idea that your actions can affect others in both positive and negative ways is a valuable concept. My question is: what are some creative ways to give back to the community together as a family?
Of course volunteering at local shelters and organizations is the first thing that comes to mind, but that's really only a possibility with older children. When it comes to younger children, I tend to think that modeling helpful behavior can be almost as important as having them participate — if they grow up thinking that when you see trash on the ground, you throw it away, or when you have too many toys, you give some away, it can become just part of their normal mindset. But I'd love to hear your ideas — what are some ways you can create charitable habits in children?
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I think the simple things in our every day life are over looked. My kids (9yrs and younger) bring in trashcans in for older neighbors. When we cook or bake we make extra and share with neighbors. We talk out why it is the right and nice thing to do. I always make it a point to have them do things for others without them knowing so that they feel what it is like to nice things without the praise.
modeling desired behaviour is so important. If you want kind, considerate kids you have to show them that you are a kind, considerate person.
I started using the money I made off of affiliate links on my blog to do 1 service project a month with my daughter. We pick a new charity each month and come up with a fun way to use the money to serve them together. Here is a link to our latest project... http://jenloveskev.com/2013/02/18/valentines-day-service-project/
This is a big conversation in the philanthropy/fundraising community. While volunteerism seems like a natural choice to many, the unfortunate reality is that sporadic, unskilled labor is only useful to a narrow range of charities. Though it's not especially trendy right now, the truth is that it may well be that the most efficient way to help out the charity you like is with cash gifts -- however modest -- to their general operations funds.
Successful strategies I've seen include bringing kids along to public events (both fundraising and not) held by charities you care about, circling older children in on household conversations about donations (cash or in-kind), and working with kids to identify a philanthropy budget of their own (perhaps out of their allowance) to get them in the habit early.
Because we frequent thrift stores a lot, I make it a huge point that every couple of months we go over all the toys, clothing etc with my kids and make donation boxes to the Salvation Army. It is very important for me to teach them not take what they have for granted and to understand that not everyone is as fortunate to get new toys and clothes.
I also encourage them to make cards for their friends for birthdays, holidays or even just to send over a cupcake to a neighbour just because. It's all about the idea of a random act of kindness and paying it forward.
When our kids have a birthday party, they each choose a "birthday charity" and ask friends to consider bringing items to donate to that instead of a gift. Then they get to deliver their "gifts" to the charity (Children's Hospital, animal shelter, etc)
Something my family did when we were kids (and I'm hoping to pass on to my own kids) is create a Thanksgiving Box. This was a box that sat on our counter beginning in January. Throughout the year, we'd all write notes for things we were thankful for (a kind word from a sibling, cleaning up our rooms without being asked, etc.) We'd also drop loose change change in there as we found it. Then on Thanksgiving we'd open up the box, read all the notes and count the money. We'd use that money to sponsor a family in need at Christmas. I really loved doing that.
The supermarket where I do most of my food shopping has a large box sitting just inside their main entrance. Its purpose is to collect donations that go to the county food bank. When I shop I always purchase one extra item to go in the box. Judging by how full the box usually is I guess other people do, too.
When I have any of my nieces or nephews with me I always have them pick the item and put it in the box. It's surprising how seriously they take this task and they learn from it. As in, "Yes, everybody DOES like spaghetti but is there a bigger jar of sauce we can find for the same amount of money?" They now even talk about it in the car before we get there. Some of them like variety but I have one nephew who insists on a jar of peanut butter every time. "The kids need this," he says solemnly.
Every Christmas Eve when I was growing up, my dad would make me and my brother hot chocolate, read us "The Night Before Christmas" on the floor in front of the tree, and assign us a certain amount of money to divvy up to charities of our choosing (mine were almost always animal-related) to remind us that the holiday wasn't all about receiving.
I don't have kids now, but if I ever do, that's a tradition I know I would love to carry on.
My son and I have committed to performing one good deed each week for 2013. We are doing everything from getting rid of paper magazines (in favor of digital ones) to leaving secret gifts in library books. If anyone is interested, I have a list of other giving ideas on my blog at http://www.onepartsunshine.com/blog/1902
i gave my 16 year old granddaughter kiva gift certificates for christmas
On my last birthday, I followed the example of the girl who started www.thebirthdayproject.com and did a day full of kind acts for others. I did it on my own, while my husband was at work and my kids were at school. My goal was to get to 38 since that is the age I turned, and though I didn't quite make it to 38, I got pretty close and had a wonderful and very moving day. I talked about it a lot afterwards, and a month or two later as we were planning my daughter's 14th birthday party, we had the idea to do a "kindness party." We came up with a list of potential ideas, asked the guests to bring $1 bills or loose change, and when they arrived we divided into 2 "teams" and went around town performing acts of kindness for others, such as taking cookies to the police station, handing balloons out to kids at a park, buying people gum in the line at target, helping people load groceries, and handing out money for diapers in the baby section at target. The girls had a fantastic time, and hopefully the 11 girls that came felt the importance of looking for service opportunities in daily life!
Last Christmas I had my kids contribute to the Shoe Box appeal, they each decorated a shoe box and filled it with toys, clothes, books and pencils for a child of a particular age and sex. They loved being able to choose things for another child. Our local daycare was collecting the boxes on behalf of the appeal, they are then sent to children around the world in need. For children of the ages three and 6, I think it was a good way of showing them the act of giving. It was not just money which they don't really understand at that age.
One Christmas, a family friend had lost his job and wasn't going to be able to buy gifts for his kids. My parents asked us kids if we'd be willing to give up some of our presents so that their kids could have some too. So on Christmas eve, we anonymously dropped the packages at their house.
Because we knew them, they told us about the anonymous gift and how much of a difference it made. This was the best gift (and lesson!) I could have received as a kid