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Helping Busy Parents Intentionally Raise Kind Kids//Bully-Proof Your Kids//Bullying Prevention

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Monthly Family-Friendly Volunteer Ideas for Kids

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Inside: Spread kindness with these family-friendly volunteer ideas for kids each month through this Family Volunteer Challenge to help make volunteering a habit for kids. 


Raising kind siblings is the fastest way to a calmer, happier, more peaceful home. Use the tools in this kind siblings ebook will help your family. #kindkids #kindsiblings #ebook #raisingkindkids


About a decade ago, there was a huge campaign in Los Angeles to get more people volunteering. Disney teamed up with dozens of local organizations, and if an adult volunteered for a certain number of hours at a specific organization like a food bank, each adult would get one free ticket to Disneyland.

It was the carrot that many adults needed to get volunteering. Me included.

For me, it wasn’t the Disneyland ticket that got me up and volunteering.

It was how easy they made it to volunteer. I knew where to go, when to go, and how to donate my time so it would be the most beneficial to my community.

My husband and I spent hours sorting good produce from rotten produce for a food bank I didn’t even know existed in my neighborhood. And we walked away exhausted and proud.

We have to make volunteering easy. We have to make volunteering a habit. We have to make it so that volunteering is a no-brainer to give your time, or money to others in need. 

Now that we have kids, it’s hard to continue to volunteer since we’re obviously much shorter on time.

But the hardest part when it comes to volunteering with kids is finding kid-friendly volunteer opportunities. So many organizations have age-requirements so families with young children are limited in where they can donate their time.

So each month, I’ve come up with different kid-friendly, easy volunteering activities families can do together to give back to their community.

Join us and make this year a year when your family focuses on volunteering and community service.

These monthly, family-friendly volunteer ideas for kids will help kids make volunteering a habit and enjoy giving to different types of community service acts.

 

Join our 2020 Family Volunteer Challenge as each month we teach our kids the art and the heart of giving back, donating, volunteering, and community service. It doesn't matter what you call your donations or your volunteering. It's teaching them to give to others because kindness matters. These are 12 kindness activities for kids #kindnessmatters #volunteer #communityservice #giveback #donating #kidvolunteer #tikkunolam #tzedakah #

Why it’s Important to Volunteer with our Kids:

We are raising kind kids. We expect it, we praise it, and we model it.

Related: How to Raise Kinder Kids

And we tend to focus on the quiet, normal, everyday moments of kindness. 

Holding the door for the person behind you.

Picking up something someone dropped. 

Offering your seat to someone who needs it. 

But there’s also bigger, grander, more time-consuming acts of kindness that falls more into the volunteering category of kindness:

Times when we donate to our local food bank.

Or collect all our old jackets and take them to a shelter that needs them.

Or when we take a taco to someone who’s really hungry. 

Our kindness may not change the world. But it can change the world for the people we help. 

And it instills in my children the fact that volunteering and acts of service are a normal part of lives.

Related: The Best Family-Friendly Volunteer Opportunities 

Helping others doesn’t need to be a once a year activity during December when we donate a toy or two.

People are hungry year round.

Animal shelters are full year round.

Kids are sick year round.

And we can help. Because we are helpers. We are raising our kids to be helpers. 

As an added bonus (as if we needed one more reason) volunteering as a family is an incredible way to connect as a family and build a strong family identity.

So teaching our kids to give to others who are less fortunate than ourselves is a true gift.

And volunteering is one of the easiest ways to help kids practice being compassionate. Compassion is feeling others’ pain or hardship or suffering and then being prompted to take action to relieve that suffering.

Related: How to Teach our Kids to be More Compassionate 

Many families want to donate and volunteer but it feels too hard.

And they don’t know where to volunteer or how easy it really is to make a significant difference. 

So we’re here to make it easier for you with the Family Volunteer Challenge for December.

How the Family Volunteer Challenge Works:

Every month, we have a  family-friendly service activity you and your kids can do together.

It’s 12 months, 1 activity each month, 10-30 minutes each month.

And it’ll be super easy.

We’ll give you a suggestion.

You can run with it, tweak it, make it your own, or scrap it and do something totally different.

Your only tasks are to commit to doing this as a family, talk about what you’re doing and why with your kids so it has a lasting impact, and then protect the time on your calendar so it doesn’t get pushed back.

And it also has to come with this crucial caveat…you can only do this Family Volunteer Challenge if you do it with no guilt. 

  • No guilt that you didn’t start it sooner. You’re starting now and that’s incredible. 
  • No guilt if one month, life got in the way and you skipped it. You can do it next month, no worries. 
  • No guilt if you think your kids are selfish and self-centered and are ungrateful. They probably are but that’s not their fault or yours. It’s how their brain is wired and we can turn giving to others and being generous into a learned habit.

Related: How to Help Our Kids Be More Grateful 

Okay, now that we’re guilt-free, let’s start spreading some kindness.

12 Months of Volunteering and Giving Back as a Family:

January’s Volunteer activity and this year’s Bonus Activity: Focusing on women and children

.

Get February’s Volunteer Challenge here: Focusing on sick kids

Get March’s Volunteer Challenge here: Focusing on the elderly

The Family Volunteer Challenge for March is a fun and simple way for our kids to connect with and help the senior citizens in our community who feel lonely or alone. #volunteer #volunteerchallenge #kidshelping #raisingkindkids #helpers #raisinghelpers #raisingvolunteers #giveback #kidvolunteers #volunteeringwithkids #familyvolunteerideas #kidsvolunteerideas

Get April’s Volunteer Challenge here: Focusing on animal shelters

Get June’s Volunteer Challenge here: Focusing on our neighborhoods

Join our June challenge for our Family Volunteer Challenge as each month we teach our kids the art and the heart of giving back, donating, volunteering, and community service. It doesn't matter what you call your donations or your volunteering. It's teaching them to give to others because kindness matters. These are 12 kindness activities for kids #kindnessmatters #volunteer #communityservice #giveback #donating #kidvolunteer #tikkunolam #tzedakah #

July’s Volunteer Activity: Focusing on veterans and active military

This July Volunteer Challenge is a perfect way to connect and show appreciation to our active servicemen and service women in our military. It's a great way to remember to be truly patriotic by thanking our military members through Operation Gratitude. Use these free patriotic postcards to send (address to mail to included) #letterstosoldiers #operationgratitude #gratitudeformilitary #thankservicemen #thankactivemilitary

August’s Volunteer Activity: Focusing on kids in need

Spread Kindness this August with this family friendly Volunteer Challenge you can do with your kids to help students get school supplies they don't have access to. #volunteerchallenge #volunteeringwithkids #schoolsupplydrive #volunteers #kindnessactivitiesforkids

September’s Volunteer Activity: Focusing on our firefighters

Use this September volunteer challenge for families to stop and thank our firefighters who help protect and save us and our homes. Firefighters are essential workers and crucial community helpers so this activity is a great way to help teach about community helpers and firefighters in a hands-on way. #essentialworkers #communityhelpers #firefighters #volunteerchallenge #

October’s Volunteer Activity: Focusing on families who need help

Spread kindness this October and participate in our family volunteer challenge...donating outgrown winter coats to a local winter coat drive #volunteering #volunteeringwithkids #wintercoatdrive #donatecoats #communityservice #philanthropy

November’s Volunteer Activity: Focusing on homeless

Spread kindness as a family through this Family Volunteer Challenge for November by gathering items for "blessing bags" to donate them to people who need them. 

December’s Volunteer Activity: Focusing on kids in need

This December volunteer activity will help your kids focus on giving this winter holiday season rather than getting. It's the perfect December family volunteer activity.

Each month of these Volunteer Ideas for Kids we will give you:

  • ideas on how to do the family-friendly volunteer ideas for kids,
  • ways to talk to your kids about it in age-appropriate ways,
  • books to read to connect to the service activity, and
  • encouragement to get other families to join you

Because kindness is contagious.

We can teach our kids how to give to others.

We can make volunteering a habit.

We can make giving to others feel normal. 

And it starts by doing these simple family-friendly volunteer activities each month and talking to our kids about it.


 

Family-friendly volunteer opportunities that allow your kids to spread kindness and give back through community service projects. #coffeeandcarpool #volunteer #serviceproject#giveback #volunteering

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Welcome to Coffee and Carpool for busy parents on the go.

I’m Nicole and I am a recovering elementary school teacher, a mom to three super busy kids, and I mostly survive on strong coffee.

I share my best parenting tips and tricks for intentionally raising kind kids, creating a stronger family connection, and bullying prevention.

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