Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once stated, “Everybody can be great … because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”
This is a statement that The University of Alabama’s Courtney Chapman Thomas has seen come true over and over in her career and in her life. “Servers” come in all shapes and sizes. Some of the greatest servers that Thomas has encountered have been children.
Children serve with an authenticity that is sometimes hard to replicate as they get older. Research shows that participating in service at a young age helps build a lifetime commitment to helping others.
Thomas offers insight on how parents can serve with their children.
- With your child’s interest in mind, choose a project. (There is a list of some suggested projects below if you need a starting place).
- Contact any partners you would be engaging with for the project. For example, call the pharmacy before you make get-well cards to make sure that is appropriate for their patient protocol.
- The project should be simple. You never want to get your child bogged down in overly complicated activities at first. This will lead them to becoming uninterested and frustrated (and probably you, as well).
- If it’s a bigger project, make a plan to break it up into several shorter projects. Remember to take breaks so that your child stays interested.
- Plan! Plan! Plan! This part is for you parents. It will help you have an enjoyable experience. Know what supplies you need, know what costs are associated (if any), know what dress is appropriate, etc. And always have a contingency plan (ie, what to do if it rains).
- It is important that you help your child reflect on the service project they have done. Give them the opportunity to tell others about their work and what it meant to them. Make sure to take these opportunities to praise your child for participating in service. This will lead them to wanting to do this more often.
Project ideas
- Create Greeting Cards. These cards can be distributed to the military oversees, your local nursing homes/assisted living facilities, an elderly neighbor.
- Make Get Well Cards. These can be taken to your local pharmacy and attached to prescriptions.
- Make Thank You Signs. These signs can then be taken to local fire departments, police stations, and any people who are in the helping professions.
- Make Coloring Kits. These kits include coloring pages or coloring books and crayons placed in Ziplock bags. These can then be taken to place like local emergency rooms or police stations to be given to children in order to give them activities to help them be at ease during times of stress.
- Make a No Sew Blanket. This is an easy project that truly helps. You can give them away to a local organization.
- Decorate a Food Bag. Have your child decorate a brown paper bag. Then, fill this with food, and deliver it to a local food pantry.
- Participate in Outdoor Clean-Up. Take your child to their favorite local park, playground or nature trail, and help keep it clean. Remember gloves.
- Do the Neighbor’s Yard Work. Ask your child to help you with doing a neighbor’s yard work. Pull weeds, plant flowers, rake and bag leaves, etc. Help bring in his or her trash can.
- Plant a Tree. Most towns have a program to help beautify by planting trees. Search the Internet for more local information.
- Plant A Garden. Plant a garden in your own backyard. Then, distribute the produce to local food pantries or homeless shelters. These types of places are always looking for fresh vegetables and fruits for their patrons. If a garden is too much, start out with a window box of tomato plants.
- Make Bird Food. Take pine cones, cover them in peanut butter and then bird seed. Then, take these and distribute them in places like parks or your neighbor’s trees. You can find different ideas for making these by searching online for pine cone bird feeders.
- Bake for your neighbor. Bake goodies with your children to distribute to your neighbors. Have your children write down things they like about each neighbor on a note to distribute along with the goodies.
- Thank the mailperson. You can put a goodie package in your mail for the mailperson to say “thank you” for always bringing the mail.
