540095978

Several years ago, I took my 4- and 6-year-old daughters with me to donate blood. I had hoped to set an example of service by bringing them along and didn’t anticipate their horrified reactions on seeing the needle being inserted. They ended up needing the post-donation snacks more than me to recover from the trauma. Thankfully, they recovered from the initial shock and my oldest daughter has even gone on to donate herself once she turned 16.

Providing community service when you have kids at home can be a challenge, but setting an example and involving them in efforts to give back are well worth it. To quote Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., “Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve.” It doesn’t matter your age or what you know, you and your family can serve others. You just need access to the most essential ingredient: time. This can feel limited when you’re trying to shuttle kids to piano practice or taekwondo, but consider that volunteering builds qualities like resilience and gratitude which can strengthen your kids in all the activities they pursue. Prioritizing service opportunities can help families develop strong values of compassion that can have positive ripple effects.

Finding ideas for how to volunteer with young children and toddlers can be especially difficult, but not if you start insimple and small ways. On a walk, you could bring along some gloves and a bag to help pick up trash, or have your kids color cards that you can deliver to nursing homes or hospital patients. Have them help you bake something for a friend or neighbor and deliver it together.

Once children start school, there are more opportunities to get involved with service-oriented clubs and organizations, like Girl and Boy Scouts, as well as National Honor Society and Key Club. Many of these organizations are led by adult volunteers who give of their time and skills to help direct activities, but you don’t have to join an organization to give service. Find a cause your child is passionate about, then have a birthday party and ask party guests to donate to that cause in lieu of gifts. Perhaps pass the presents along to needy children by connecting with sites such as thebirthdaypartyproject.org or onesimplewish.org. During a road trip, you can download cards from carwindowpoetry.com and have your family write fun and encouraging poems to leave on the windshields of fellow travelers. For animal-loving kids, reach out to your local animal shelters to see about helping to walk dogs, clean pens, or create pet beds or toys for them.

In April, families can give back to the environment by observing Arbor Day and Earth Day. These occasions provide a great opportunity to come together and contribute to the well-being of our planet. The City of Hermiston is giving away sapling trees on April 6 to plant for Arbor Day, and a similar tree giveaway is happening in Pendleton on April 27. There are plenty of other ways that all ages can care for the Earth, from recycling to cleaning up a local park.

Teaching children about the environmental impacts of certain practices may inspire them into action. These activities can help foster a sense of responsibility towards nature and encourage both children and adults to be better stewards of Earth’s resources.

There are so many ways to contribute and sometimes it just takes having ideas or connecting to local needs to help get started. You can go online to justserve.org and enter your zip code to find service and volunteer opportunities both close to home and nationwide. If you have a big age range in your kids it may be harder to find activities that everyone can be involved in, but it’s worth the effort to try.

Volunteering and giving back are ways to connect and build vibrant communities of caring where families can thrive. Many of the qualities and values that we hope to instill in our kids can be nurtured through service, as we help kids see beyond themselves to the needs of others. If your first attempts at giving back don’t go as well as you hope, keep at it. Remember that even small acts of service help make the world a better place.