Thanks to my parents and church community, working to make a difference was always important to me. My kids became involved in service projects when they were growing up, too. I like to think that helped them become kind and compassionate people. Today, I’ll share some ideas about what we did as a family along with resources for some family service projects you can participate in this season.
My Family’s Service Project Efforts
When my kids were little, we helped with various food drives. As they grew older, we were very involved in our local skating club. Both Will and Christina saw me volunteer and chair various projects. They naturally accepted volunteering as part of their life, too. Volunteering (even chairing a project) became such a part of their lives that they were each given the club’s Volunteer of the Year award. I truly believe the positive character traits they gained were much more important than any skating medals they ever received.
Another activity that has been an important part of our family is sponsoring children through Compassion International. Because conditions for girls are so poor in many parts of the world, we chose to sponsor two 5-year-old girls, starting when our kids were younger. Later on, we sponsored another 5-year-old girl. I tell a bit about our experiences with Compassion International in this post: Let’s Brighten the World for Girls.
As adults, Will and Christina participated in various volunteer projects, too. Christina skated in a breast cancer benefit in Oxford, England. Here’s her post about it (which contains a video of the skating performance): Top 10 Ways to Perform for a Cause. Both kids have done volunteer work as coaches for activities such as Special Olympics Learn to Skate. Will has his own DJ business, Dancing DJ Productions, and has DJ’d for benefit causes.
We’ve all worked together on 100 Acts of Kindness.
We’ve worked together for breast cancer awareness.
Resources for Service Projects You Can Do with Your Children
Amy Mascott from Teach Mama, Allison McDonald from No Time for Flash Cards, and Amanda Morgan from Not Just Cute teamed up to organize blog4cause 2012 during November and December. The goal is “in a season of getting, to teach our children about giving.” Here are the resources for blog4cause.
True Aim has hosted a November Giving Challenge to”Give the Gift of Giving to our families”: The Gift of Giving: November Family Challenge.
I have a post with a Go Orange Linky Party at Bits of Positivity. The Go Orange Linky Party has lots of ideas for parents and children working together to fight hunger. I also have a number of posts about No Kid Hungry, one of my causes.
At Bits of Positivity, I have a post with a Go Pink Blog Hop with ideas for adults and children working together for breast cancer support.
At Bits of Positivity, I have posts about Spontaneous Smiley and fun projects to raise money for Operation Smile.
I have a Make a Difference page at Bits of Positivity with links to resources and blog posts.
Pragmatic Mom has a list of Charities for Kids to Support.
We Are THAT Family has 100+ Ways for Your Family to Make a Difference.
Kindergarten & Preschool for Parents & Teachers has ARK – Acts of Random Kindness for Kids & Adults with Free Printables.
Having Fun at Home has Community Service Projects from Home.
UPDATE: See my post on “Simple Ways to Make a Difference in the World” to learn about some amazing “bloggers who inspire the world to help others.”
Make a Difference Pinterest Board
I have a Make a Difference Pinterest Board with many more ideas.
I’d love to hear about your family service projects! 🙂
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What amazing ways to teach children about giving! We try to work on giving at my house.
Thanks, JDaniel4’s Mom! I love reading about the charity work you do!
I love the idea of Let’s Brighten the World for Girls – or any sponsorship program where you can track the recipient of your help. As Kieran is learning about spending, saving, and donating, I think it would help make the “donating” pile more tangible to have it go to a child like him. Thank you for the idea – and for sharing your other family service projects!
Thanks, Dionna! The sponsorship we’ve done through Compassion International has been an amazing experience for our whole family. Because of Compassion, even though one of our sponsored girls became an orphan, she has been able to have a positive life rather than go to an orphanage.
What a great list of ideas to help out. I’m gonna pin this to come back to for more ideas next time we’re getting ready to serve! Especially the Community Advent project, what a great idea.
Thanks, Ticia! I really appreciate your pinning my post!
This is a wonderful resources. Pinning it and posting to facebook. Wonderful!
Thanks for your kind comment, Susan … and thanks for pinning my post and sharing it on Facebook! I LOVE your ideas for making a difference, too.
Love this post! Thanks for showing how your involvement has continued as your children have grown up and they’ve developed their own way of staying involved. Great mama!
Thanks so much for your kind words, Laura! It really has been fun to see the work we did when my kids were little expand into their own ways of showing compassion.
Your family is very busy making ‘giving’ a way of life. I think that’s the ideal for all of us. When kids grow up living a life of service, it will be second nature to them as adults.
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks, Erica! I think it’s always interesting that the givers get as much out of service as the receivers.
How cool! We sponsor two children, too, and I like to talk about them with Mikko and have him help me write them letters. I should do that more often, actually! And we could look up on a map where they live and learn a little about the countries…ooo, homeschooling ideas! 🙂
I love to hear how many bloggers are teaming up for good causes, too. That’s a beautiful thing.
Thanks, Lauren! It’s wonderful that Mikko’s involved in your letter writing. I know of lots of sponsors who have their child make crafts to send to their sponsored children, too. And it’s definitely a great way to learn more about geography!
It is beautiful and quite amazing to see all the efforts of bloggers teaming up to make a difference, isn’t it?!
I truly appreciate this great list of resources as a reminder to continually find ways to teach my kids compassion through service projects.
Also, thank you for including me on your list!
Thanks so much, PragmaticMom! And it was my pleasure to include your wonderful list! 🙂
What a great post! I agree that one of the most important things we can do to teach our children about compassion is to model it for them, something you have done in abundance. And thank you for including so many great resources, they are wonderful!
Thanks so much for your kind comment, Leanna! This was a fun post to put together! 🙂
Hi Deb! You have done an amazing job with your children. I hope that I can do the same and develop a heart of compassion in my children.
Thanks for your kind words, Tulip! I think you’re doing a wonderful job with your children! 🙂
Holy cow, I am in AWE! Just… WOW! Thanks for some pointers of things we can do with our own littles!
Thanks for your kind comment, Momma Jorje! I hope you find some ideas that work well for your family! 🙂
Such a great post. I love the idea of sponsoring a child as a family. In addition to helping the child it could be also be a good way to learn about another part of the world.
Thanks, Mud Hut Mama! That’s so true … it’s been a wonderful and eye-opening geography experience for our whole family.
Deb – Kiva is a neat organization too that kids can participate with online. I did a post about how we integrated the charity into a lesson here. Thanks for the thoughtful post!
http://motherofdiscussion.blogspot.com/2012/10/world-food-day.html
What a wonderful project and learning experience, Christa! Thanks so much for sharing the link! 🙂
What a WONDERFUL comprehensive list!! Thanks for linking up to TGIF! Have a great week,
Beth =-)
Thanks so much, Beth! I hope you have a wonderful week, too! 🙂
So many ideas, they are almost overwhelming! Which is something that happens to me rather easily, I’m afraid. Then I try to remind myself that even doing one small thing to make my little corner of the world kinder really does change the world. And lots of little acts add up to bigger and better things.
Yes! I’m a former Missions Pastor and currently work for Operation Christmas Child. I’ve seen what volunteer together as a family can do over the long term. It’s great because you’re modeling selflessness for your children.