Kid Volunteers

Tips For Getting Your Kids Excited About Volunteering

By
Relationship Advice Expert April Masini

Q: Dear April Masini,

My daughter is in middle school and I really want to start getting her involved in volunteering. It used to be a school requirement for her, but they no longer make the students do it or even really encourage volunteering. My daughter was not very excited when I told her I want her to volunteer for a few hours a week. How can I get her excited to help others?

Sincerely,

Teens Should Give Back

A:

Dear Teens Should Give Back,

What’s the best way to get kids involved and excited about volunteering? Simple -- lead by example.

Tip #1: Start a family tradition of volunteering:

Set an example for family values by volunteering as a family on a regular basis -- even if it's only annually, or just during the holidays (ie: volunteer to serve holiday meals in soup kitchen, deliver meals to the elderly for the holidays, bake cookies and deliver them to senior citizen homes, donate toys, clothes and food to shelters, etc.) . Pick a cause or a charity that has significance to your family and that isn’t too far away, so that you will actually do it. Charities for the elderly, battered women, the homeless or even your local hospital and senior citizen home can all use your help.

More ideas?

• Wash the car. Forget the car wash. Make the family car, a family project – and then open your services up to the public -- for a donation, with the proceeds going to a charity your kids select… and have them deliver the check.

• Organize a community bake-off, for charity, with the "baked contestants" being auctioned off to the highest bidders. Each baker would be baking for his or her charity of choice.

• Hold a dance-a-thon. Conducted much like any marathon, your dancers would obtain "sponsors" who would donate money based upon the number of hours danced – without stopping, with the proceeds going to charity.

Tip #2 Demonstrate that it's cool to be a volunteer:

How? Also, simple. Start watching, researching, following, and discussing charities, and various celebrities that are involved with them, around the dinner table.

April Masini -- nicknamed "the new millennium's Dear Abby" by the media, is author of the best-selling books Date Out Of Your League and Think & Date Like A Man, the two (just released) step-by-step dating and relationship manuals, Ideas for a Fun Date and Romantic Date Ideas, and the critically acclaimed dating and relationship online magazine www.AskApril.com.

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