I’m one of those people who believes strongly that before people should graduate from high school they should be required to do community service hours. I believe this so strongly that in our household, community service begins in kindergarten. My son is required to do two ‘projects’ a year (he is in kindergarten) and my daughter does something every other month–she is in second grade.
Why Community Service?
We do community service because it is a tangible way to teach compassion and empathy and thankfulness. One of my daughter’s first Christmas projects was to bring food to a homeless shelter. We live in New York City and we are not strangers to seeing homeless people begging in the subway stations. We have taught our kids never to give money to a homeless person begging (for a variety of reasons that are too lengthy to go into here) but we will stop to buy a meal, or a cup of coffee if possible.
However, one year we decided to bake pies to go into Christmas boxes that were to be delivered to the homeless shelter that is behind our house. While delivering boxes, my daughter met another little girl the same age whose mother needed a box to feed her family. The girls played happily while the mom and I talked. She was a battered wife and with three little kids, she couldn’t afford a place to live on her pay check. They had been living in the family mini van.
It is experiences like these that help my kids see faces in human suffering rather than just an ‘issue‘ or ‘situation‘ in society. It helps them realize that they are blessed to have what they have and I truly believe it keeps them from complaining about what they don’t have. Whenever someone talks about the back yard that we’d all love to have, my daughter or son will chime in, “But we’re thankful we have a nice apartment.”
Choosing Appropriate Projects
Not all community service is equal and you really have to think about what would be appropriate for your child. It is not appropriate in my opinion to expose kids to all manner of suffering unless you’re ready to answer a lot of questions! If we didn’t live in the city and weren’t already exposed to homelessness on a daily basis–I would not choose a homeless shelter type project for children so young. Aside from the age of your child, we also take into consideration their particular gifts, and interests. And finally, we always have to consider time constraints on our schedules and what we’re able to do. A family service project should be a time of growth and fun–not a time of stress because you’re trying to bake 30 pies in between Christmas service rehearsals and shopping!
It is the process and not the product that counts. Lots of people shy away from doing community service with their young children because after all what can they really offer? You would be surprised at how gracious people have been to us for our efforts. No one in the nursing home cared that their card was so laden with glitter glue that it couldn’t stand.
With that said, it is important to make sure that your project matches a need. Homeless people always feel as if they get “left overs” and so a glitter glue heavy card is not nearly as appropriate as a new stuffed animal. While it is not necessary for your child to do everything perfectly, you also want to make sure that his/her age is not hindering the over all goal.
Some Projects to Try:
These are all things that we’ve done with our own kids. Hopefully this gives you a good starting point.
Letter writing–last year, we sent a Christmas package to our friend David in Iraq, and then also the kids wrote letters and drew pictures for everyone else in his platoon.
Nursing Home–nursing home residents love visitors even if they don’t know them. I especially like visiting the nursing home because it helps my kids understand that elderly people are valuable to society and should be treated as such.
Homeless outreach–find a soup kitchen or offer to put together packages for a women’s shelter
House cleaning–this year, we’re going to polish the wood in our friend’s house. We chose this because our three year old daughter will be able to help. While it is not focused on the neighborhood, it’s a good stepping stone towards other projects.
Raising Money–my kids want to put together a bake sale and lemonade stand in the summer and donate the proceeds to a foundation that helps Chinese children get medical treatment that they need.
Baked goods for your local fire department and police station–the men and women that have to work on Christmas day are super appreciative.
With that said, Merry Christmas and Happy Serving!
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