Volunteering with your kids

I can't wait to volunteer with my kiddos. Volunteering has always been a HUGE part of my life and I have missed it terribly in recent years. I think it would be really great to get my kids out and engaging with people for a good cause-- not just to walk the halls of the mall. However, I am having a tough time finding any good volunteer opportunities to partake in with the little ones in tow. They are kind of in a rambunctious (sp?) stage right now.

Any ideas? Do any of you volunteer with your kids?

(church-related volunteering is not an option for us, though I'd still love to hear if any of you do it!)

 

You know, I've been thinking of this too and I'm curious if any one has ideas. I was excited when our paper did an entire two page spread on volunteer opportunities for the holidays, but the only thing you could do with 2's & 4's was adopt-a-family. We already do that so it was a let down! I understand, really at this point they would be more of a disruption than contribution at a lot of places, but I want to take them somewhere and do something other than shopping!

 

I am interested to hear replies too. I have also been thinking about this.

This isn't "volunteering", but my community has a neat program where they have moved our toddler's library group in to senior's homes. I think this is wonderful. Definitely a 'win-win'. The kids get the fun of story time and the seniors get the fun of watching the kids. Anyhow, my thought is that maybe visiting a senior's home is an option. I bet there are a lot of seniors that would get a kick out of your kids. Of course, if your kids are super high energy this might be tough.

 

My kids all volunteer at our local animal shelter. Even though they are still young it's good for them to learn about animals and responsibility. They get cats out and play with them/just pet them or get a senior dog out who has less chances of being adopted and brush them or throw a ball for them. And laundry. For some reason they get a kick out of doing it there more so than at home. My oldest also does dishes there. *There are a ton of other ways to help a shelter if you don't feel comfortable going there.*

You could get a group of moms together and have your kids make Christmas cards to people in a nursing home. Then have the kids hand them out.

Get permission from a food pantry and then set up a booth and have the kids help ask for donations.

If it's warm where you live take the kids to the park and have a clean up trash day.

Go plant flowers for nursing home residents.

Visit a hospital.

Collect clothes/toys and take it to a safe house for women.

Have them go around and collect stuff for our men and women over seas. (Start a pen pal sort of thing for the older kids) Then have them help mail the package

Volunteering with kids is so important IMO. These days a lot of young people expect to be paid for everything they do. Teaching them Humanity while they are young is a great gift.

 

I'd been thinking about this lately, too. When I was younger I helped my mom deliver Meals on Wheels a couple of times. In truth, it was a bit of a disaster because we had a ton of trouble finding most of the places. And to do it now (especially with twins) would be a bit of a pain because of all of the buckling and unbuckling of car seats, but maybe it would be doable if you take one kid at a time.

 

We have a local "store" that takes donations from the community, cleans things up, and then allows the needy to take what they need. This includes clothing, food, and household items. I have gone in and helped clean the shelves and straighten up the "store". I started taking my DD when she was 3 years and 2 months and she helped by wiping down the shelves. She does a really good job too. There was a group of us helping to clean the center and any adult that was nearby helped her to wring out her rag, then she just went to any shelf that she wanted and wiped away. (Her bucket was just water.) She took her job very seriously and really only needed limited supervision, so it was great. I haven't tried to bring my boys though. One child was no problem, two may be doable, three can get a little trying . . . (the boys aren't quite 3 yet either)

 

I am going to take my boys bell ringing for the Salvation Army this year. I've done it many years, but this is the first time I've attempted to take them.

 

I've thought about this a lot but I haven't put it into practice yet. My boys are 20 months. Since they were little they seemed to cheer up people where ever we go, especially older people. We get stopped walking down the street - people talk to them and smile at them. I think taking them to an old age home would be awesome. What a great way to cheer people up. My only worry is passing germs back and forth - kids and old people are both vulnerable. I'd probably get them the flu shot.

 

Our church has community service days where we go out into the community and do things. We have picked up garbage at parks, cleaned people's homes, delivered food during the food drives, etc kind of stuff. As well as just making meals for people and dropping them off, giving other's some of our surplus of clothes, and toys. We also visit in the independent living facility here in our town. The kids all love being a part of community service.