Teaching Kids To Serve
The desire to serve is something that is in all of us. Just think of your little toddler that is so excited to run and grab a diaper to toy for their baby brother or sister. So proud of themselves for the accomplishment of giving service to someone they love. When a family member or friend suffers a loss the first thing we do is jump in to serve. The thing that often escapes us is knowing in which way to best serve ourselves and how to teach our kids to serve.
One of the simplest ways to teach your kids to serve is right at home. My kids love helping me do things around the house. In those moments I am able to teach them the skill they are helping me with, allowing them to build confidence and when we are done we talk about how helping made them feel. Taking the chance to talk about our feelings helps them identify those "warm fuzzies" so they can someday identify them on their own. Sometimes I even use it as a consequence for when the kids are not being kind to each other. I give them the assignment to serve that other sibling and find it to be much more effective than time out.
We have been blessed to live in a neighborhood with the most wonderful neighbors, my kids love talking with them and jump at any chance to do something nice for them. The other day I made a batch of cookies for a blog post and Dylan asked if he could take them to the Wilsons.
You see, all their children and grandchildren have all moved out of state and they pretty much love ours like their own. Serving neighbors is a great next step when teaching kids to serve. I created a printable to help you off load your extra goodies to those you'd love to serve.
You can download it HERE.
Recently the kids and I put together some personal care bags for a shelter in the community. We may never know who is benefiting from this form of service, but it's a great way to teach your kids that sometimes service doesn't come with a thank you directly from the person being served. It may be a hard concept for them to grasp, but the more opportunities they have to serve the community the more they will understand.
The last way we try to serve is globally, often through larger charitable organizations. Jewelers Mutual Insurance Company for example is set to donate a total of $2 million to support three important causes – health, home and hunger through their corporate giving campaign called Band Together. The nonprofits benefiting are: St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Habitat for Humanity, and Feeding America or Food Banks Canada. Contributing to these charities doesn't even require you to serve financially. You can band together with Jewelers Mutual to help decide how to disperse the record-breaking donation by voting for your choice of causes from July 11, 2016 at 11am CT - July 31, 2016 at 11pm CT.
The cause that receive the most votes by the end of July will receive a $1 million donation from Jewelers Mutual. The runner-up will receive $700,000 and $300,000 will go to the third-place winner. Throughout the three-week campaign, voters will be entered for a chance to win weekly jewelry prizes from STACKED New York. Each week, one lucky winner will receive a set of 3 stacking bands ($450 retail value). Vote daily to increase your chances of winning!
We have enjoyed teaching our kids about how to serve in the home, in the neighborhood, in the community and also globally. What are some ways your family chooses to serve?
I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.