Volunteer Work Archives - Kids Ain't Cheap

Many kids avoid volunteering because they don’t want to spend their time doing something for free when they could instead work and make money. I understand that because, as a teen, I never volunteered. Instead, I worked typical teen jobs at places like our local pizza parlor and McDonald’s. However, as my oldest child recently demonstrated, volunteering can help your child get a better job.

My Son’s Volunteering Experience

My husband and I didn’t want our son to get a job during high school. Instead, we wanted him to focus on his academics so he could hopefully get a scholarship to college. (That plan worked; he got good grades and a college scholarship.)

However, he was eager to get out of the house and do something, so he volunteered a lot. One summer, he volunteered at our local library for the kids’ summer reading program; he won an award for the most hours volunteered of any volunteer.

The following summer, he volunteered as a helper at a science and technology camp for elementary school kids. He worked five days a week all summer long. Then, during winter break, he volunteered at that camp again.

How Volunteering Can Help Your Child Get a Better Job

This summer, our son was ready to get a job. He applied to several places and got interviews at two places—as a dishwasher at a local restaurant and a children’s museum. Luckily, he got both jobs, too.

I’m sure he got the job at the children’s museum because of his copious volunteer experience. Otherwise, he would have had to take the entry-level dishwasher job. There are many benefits of the children’s museum job over an entry-level fast-food job that most teens get:

Daytime hours (He only has to work between 9 and 5.)
Retirement benefits (The museum requires him to set some aside for retirement, and the business matches his contributions. This is an excellent benefit that most teens don’t have access to.)
Gaining experience for future jobs. (As someone interested in history, he’s building his skill set at this job. It likely will help him get an even better job in the future.)

Help Your Child Selectively Choose His Volunteer Experiences

If you want to help set your child up for a good entry-level job, help your child selectively choose his volunteer experiences. For example, if he’d like to work at a veterinarian office, encourage him to get volunteer experience with animals.

If she’d like to teach in the future, encourage her to volunteer with children. Or, if she would like to work with adults, she could volunteer at a literacy program.

Final Thoughts

Volunteering allows your child to give back to the community and feel good about herself and her efforts. However, volunteering can also help your child get a better job, especially if she volunteers in the field she would eventually like to work in.

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Melissa Batai

Melissa is a writer and virtual assistant. She earned her Master’s from Southern Illinois University, and her Bachelor’s in English from the University of Michigan. When she’s not working, you can find her homeschooling her kids, reading a good book, or cooking. She resides in Arizona where she dislikes the summer heat but loves the natural beauty of the area.

Set The Example

We constantly tell our children to be nice, to be polite, to share, to give, to be kind. But as with any other lesson, it is important to set the example you want your children to emulate. The winter holidays are a time for giving, loving and sharing; to teach this to your children, it’s important to get them involved with giving, loving and sharing with the community.

Unfortunately, it can be a lot harder to find ways to give when you are keeping a strict budget. Cold and wet weather are also seen as deterrents to volunteering, especially when dealing with small children. Yet, there are a lot of ways to get your kids in the mind frame of giving back without having to brave freezing temperatures or spend a fortune.

Here are a few key points to remember when seeking volunteer opportunities with your children:

Focus on the message. To start brain-storming ideas for your children, begin by zeroing in on exactly what you want to teach them. Why do you think that it is important to volunteer? How you answer that question will impact the activities you choose. For example, if your family is religious, you may want to choose an activity with a religious message. Look for an organization with religion-related events.

Find something fun! If you choose tedious, boring work for you children to partake in, you may be inadvertently teaching them that volunteering is tedious and boring. These jobs, such as sorting clothes or sitting at a booth, are still important; but you may want to start the experience with fun activities and gradually sprinkle in these less exciting opportunities.

Be prepared to field questions from your children. Helping out in a soup kitchen can be a lot of fun, but younger children won’t understand the concept of not having a home. Do some thinking before taking your children to places like this, and be prepared with answers in advance so you aren’t caught off guard. This also goes for domestic violence shelters, terminally-ill hospital wards, or any particularly heart-wrenching situation. These places are what make volunteering so special: but it is a heavy message to teach. Don’t necessarily shy away from it, but prepare yourself and your children as best as you can, which may mean waiting another year or so.

Make home-made holiday cards for residents of a nursing home or hospital.

Play with Animals. Take your children to the local Humane Society and spend an hour playing with the animals.

Pick out a toy to take to the Salvation Army or Goodwill. All of these activities cost relatively little, but teach a clear and positive message.

If you do decide that you want to do an activity that costs more money, get your children involved in a family piggy bank dedicated to the holiday season. Even a dollar a week can buy Thanksgiving dinner for several families, a winter coat for a child in need, or mittens for dozens of children.

Do you volunteer with your children? How did you teach the value of giving back?

Brian

Brian is the founder of Kids Ain’t Cheap and is now sharing his journey through parenthood.

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