Kids Learning Service

This is a cool article from the Parents Magazine blog that talks about benefits for children when they serve, as well as gives some ideas for serving. Thought I'd share. Also I thought I'd share a picture of my "baby" when we made and handed out burritos with the Burrito Project  (this one is in Salt Lake City, but the organization is found throughout the U.S.) to people who are homeless. She didn't want to get out of the car to hand them out, but since I wasn't about to leave her alone in the car across the street from the city bus depot, I made her come along. She did great and even commented on how grateful the people that we gave the burritos to were.     Volunteer With Your Kids     https://www.parents.com/parenting/better-parenting/style/volunteer-with-your-kids/

I'm a mom. I've stood in the checkout line with kids having meltdowns, trying to stop the cart in the aisles, refusing to go somewhere, let alone do service, and have carried a toddler and a heavy box of food from the Food Bank one flight at a time because I wanted to teach my kids to serve. So why do we do all of this? Because of who our kids (and even us adults) can become. It also can help who they (and we) are today: health, happiness, and skill-wise. After I've convinced you with all of the good reasons below, visit my Pinterest page for kid-friendly ideas, or comment below with what kind of service you're looking for and I'll brainstorm for you. https://infographicjournal.com/5-benefits-of-volunteering/

Round #1. Does anyone else think I look like a muppet? Standing alone in front of a class of 5th graders and their teaching staff is embarrassing enough, but having to stand there TWICE while 13 whipped cream pies are hurtled at you is kind of humiliating. Particularly when a plate sticks to the side of your face. So how'd I end up in this spot? It starts with a brilliant idea someone had. Ok, that someone was me. And it sounded like a good idea at the time to challenge 56ish 5th graders to see who could do more service over spring break, me or all of them put together (like I said, brilliant idea). After all, I was driving all the way to Seattle to help my mother-in-law get her house ready to sell (drive time counts if you are going specifically to do service). That's 26 hours just for driving. The first day there I was on a roll with 9 hours of painting and ordering pods. The next 2 days I forgot to count my hours so I probably underestimated what I did at 12 hours. W

Sometimes we need to move to creative ideas, fun activities, or full on bribery to get kids to do service. It's not the best reason for kids (or any of us) to do service, but it gives them the chance to learn how to step up and serve. Hopefully they'll also gain some meaningful connections that will change their attitude about it along the way. Here are some suggestions for getting them started: Service can be hard work, reward yourselves with a treat that is somehow special to what you are doing. After we drop off the box we deliver from the food bank each month, we head over two blocks to  Thirst  for sodas and popcorn (after all, they have happy drinks & treats). It was also started by an 18 year-old, so we like to support his gumption.  Throw a party!  Service project party - choose a project and have your kids invite friends over to work on it. We did this once for the  Festival of Trees , a fundraiser for Primary Children's Hospital. My daughter invited her

Who doesn't like to have the hard work done for them? For that very reason, I've made a list of service ideas for you! Lot's of lists actually, such as service for: animals the elderly teens holidays groups parties random acts of service Check out my Kids Learning Service Pinterest board to find links to some amazing service ideas for kids. (I can't take credit for the ideas, other than I put them in one spot, for which you're welcome)

If you haven't heard yet, I'm going on a trip this summer. Take a guess where it's to: a. Seattle, b. Korea, c. Vietnam, d. Hong kong. Drumroll please...all of the above!  My friend and I signed up to join a Global Community Leadership trip to vietnam with Youthlinc . We'll be teaching story telling conferences and visiting with people to write narratives that share their stories. I'm really excited to have the chance to do leadership, service, and work towards my degree in such a beautiful place.  Seattle and Korea are just layovers, but I'm adding Korea to my list of countries visited (if I touch the ground there it counts, even of it's only for 4 hours). We even added a couple of extra days to go to Hong Kong ( ) because I lived there as a missionary a million years ago but haven't had the chance to go back. My 12 year-old is jealous she can't go with us so she's starting to save money to go on a humanitarian trip with Youthlinc to