A holiday push for kid-friendly giving back
Many families look for ways to give back during the holiday season, including volunteering together with young children. The guide, based on interviews with parents and volunteer coordinators, describes how family service can teach youngsters confidence and practical skills while also offering a way for relatives to spend time together. It also notes that volunteer work can be harder to find for younger children because some nonprofit organizations seek helpers who are at least 18 years old.
Finding volunteer roles that fit a child’s age
Cami Teacoach’s experience is one example of how hard it can be to locate options for toddlers and preschoolers. When her son turned three, she began searching for volunteer projects she could do with him, including making Valentine cards for senior citizens, hiking and picking up trash, helping harvest produce at community gardens, and making seed balls from mud to throw into the forest to promote wildflower growth. She said she often heard resistance from others, telling the reporter: “Everyone was like, ‘A 3-year-old can’t do that,’” and “And I was like, ‘No, I swear, he really can if you would just give him a chance.’”
The article recommends persisting and asking questions about age limits when reaching out. Polly Lagana, executive director of Volunteer New York!, said volunteering is broad and that many families want to start but do not know where to begin: “There’s a million different ways to help people and volunteer. So many families want to do this and literally just don’t know where to start.” She also said parents are interested in showing kids how they can help out and give back, adding, “In a turbulent time in our world, families — and parents in particular — are very interested in showing their kids how they can help out and how they can give back.”
Why younger children can follow through
Sapreet Saluja, executive director of New York Cares, said children often bring detail-orientation and follow-through to volunteer tasks. She said she was “very impressed with the detail-orientation and the precision and the following of directions and the care that some kids I’ve seen, as young as six, take to the tasks that they’re doing.” Saluja said kids can become engaged when the purpose of the task is explained as benefiting someone else, and she described the experience as inspiring.
She also said children’s curiosity can open up discussion about community challenges. Saluja said, “Kids are unbelievably curious. They ask questions about what they’re doing, what they’re seeing, what they’re feeling, what they’re hearing, and it opens up a dialogue.” She added, “It helps you see even at a young age some of the challenges that society is facing and it gives you agency to know that you can be a part of the solution.”
Give children choices and missions they can explain
The guide suggests that families include children in the decision-making process by offering agency and information. Lagana recommended describing the community problem and offering “one or two options of how that problem can be fixed.” She said, “Let them know what problem you’re trying to fix in your community, and maybe one or two options of how that problem can be fixed,” and she offered an example: children could be asked which option they want to help with after adults explain who lacks food and that some hospital children may need blankets.
It also suggests matching volunteer missions with topics children can understand, such as cleaning up litter at a park.
Hunger-focused help: sorting and delivering food
Another section of the guide focuses on ways children can support efforts related to hunger. It says children understand hunger and can help alleviate it, including by sorting grocery boxes at a food pantry or assisting with delivering sustenance to home-bound individuals.
In Denver, Aviva Davis and her brother began helping their parents deliver Meals on Wheels when they were younger. The guide says they initially rode in the car with their parents to bring food to residents’ doors, and later took turns driving. Davis, now 17, said the experience broadened her understanding of how other people live: “It definitely opened my eyes to what the world is like outside of our bubble. We saw all sorts of different things and I saw not everyone lives the same way.” She added, “But even at such a young age I could realize it’s amazing what we’re doing that we could help people that aren’t as lucky as we were.”
The article also quotes Seth Davis about the time the deliveries can create: “It’s a great chance for us to catch up as a family,” he said, adding that when they are not “all on our phones, you get some pretty cool quality time.” It says Bonnie Davis found Meals on Wheels after extensive research and that the family continues deliveries monthly when possible.
When organizations won’t take toddlers, create your own
The guide points to families that started their own volunteer opportunities when they could not find existing programs that would accept younger children. Teacoach said she started a group in Pittsburgh called VolunTOTs after organizations were not willing to take her toddler, describing it as creating service opportunities for children as young as 3.
The article says VolunTOTs activities include packing 500 boxes of groceries for families in need, playing bingo with seniors in nursing homes, and making dog treats for an animal rescue center. It also says parents reported improvements in children’s conduct after volunteering, quoting Teacoach: “They feel so good about themselves, they were a helper, and that translates into better behavior.”
Teens and service projects that build confidence
The guide also includes an example from a family project called “Tough Cookies,” where Stephanie Bernaba’s family baked and delivered cookies to veterans when her son Matthew was in eighth grade. Michael Bernaba, now 14 and then younger during the project, described visiting homes where many residents were living alone, saying: “Going up to the houses, it was very nice, because they’re mostly living alone. A lot of their family or friends died.” He added, “It’s just nice to be there and bring it to them … They were very happy, especially for someone to bring them treats like that.”
It says the experience helped teens practice social skills and interact with people across different stages of health and life circumstances. Matthew Bernaba said early deliveries made him nervous: “We went to the first couple of places and I was really scared, because I’m more of a shy person.” He said that as they continued, he talked more with veterans and heard their stories: “For the first couple of deliveries I was more to myself, and as we kept going, we talked more with the veterans and got to hear great stories from them.”
Make it fun with friends and family gatherings
The article concludes with advice aimed at engagement and logistics. It says children can be more willing to try new activities with a buddy and suggests families sign up with people they know. It also says families can invite other households to do projects together, including arranging clothing donations or assembling snack packs at home.
As one example, the guide says Bonnie Davis organized a drive for menstrual supplies and families gathered in her backyard to assemble baskets. It also says she turned half of her son’s graduation party into a volunteer project assembling kits of bean soup. Davis described the benefits in general terms, saying: “It’s a win for everybody. You get quality time, you’re raising your children with what feels like good values, and people benefit.”