I would like to have my children volunteer. What are some safe charities children can work with?

Question

I have two girls who are 7 and 4. I know the 4yr old cannot do much, but I want her to start seeing that helping is good thing,

Answer 1

From my own experience, most organizations won't take kids under 12 years of age to help with their volunteer projects. With my boys, I felt that it was equally important for them to see me volunteer and have them "help" me with things within my neighborhood. When my boys were young, some of the things we did together included:

Make and take home-made soup (dinner, cookies, etc.) to a sick neighbor/new mother.

Walk a neighbor's dog while they were at work.

Took wildflowers we picked to local nursing homes.

Ring the Salvation Army bell at Christmas-time.

Take good used clothes, books and toys and give them to poor people in our area (I always told the boys that Santa needed room to bring new toys at Christmas so what toys would they like to give to the "poor" children. I let them pick.- no broken toys allowed!)

Dropped canned goods at the local Food Bank (I asked the boys what foods they thought would be good to donate and we discussed why some were better than others.)

We helped elderly neighbors clean out thier attics and carry trash to the curb.

We sorted clothing donations at a local Good Will Center.

Saved (and collected from friends) used magazines that we dropped at the nursing homes.

Made little crafts for various holidays (Valentine's, Easter, Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc.) and took them to the Nursing Home.

Served meals at a local group home for disabled persons on Thanksgiving.

Picked up litter along the highway with a local organization- Adopt-A-Highway.

Invited neighbors without local family to our home for Christmas dinner.

The ideas are endless. My boys are now teenagers and they still volunteer and are very active in our church and community. You can't start too early.....you just have to be creative and come up with your own ideas since most organizations won't allow young children.

Answer 2

I also would like for my children to volunteer. They are 7 and 9 year old boys. I volunteered for the Red Cross and I believe that they have programs for parent and children to volunteer together. I would check with your local chapter. And I don't think it is ever to young to start showing them that they can make a difference in this world.

Answer 3

Woah... maybe wait till they're in Jr. High or High School. They need a carefree childhood. Let them know that volunteering is something they can look forward to. Maybe they can join scouts. You could see if their school visits nursing homes, or set up a field trip. When they finally hit high-school, they'll be old enough to meaningfully contribute. JROTC is a great way to get kids involved in the community- lots of community service opportunities... but for now, I'd say, don't worry about it and let them be kids. The world's not getting any better right now, so let them enjoy it while they can.

Answer 4

First of all, make sure that you do the activities with them (I'm sure you were planning to).
One thing that my mom always did was have us pick toys we didn't use anymore to give to charity, especially before Christmas.
One thing I can think of to do is go trash-picking at a park. Cleaning up an area like that, rather than a highway, is a little safer. It's great exercise and you can easily see what you've accomplished.

Answer 5

I think that's pretty young for them to be volunteering, I would think you would have to be volunteering along with them. Maybe places like churches or soup kitchens. Candy-stripers at the hospital would be a good one when they are older.

Maybe check and see if there is a listing of volunteer organizations in your local area.

Answer 6

Small charities like this are not likely to have an internet presence, or have a funds to apply for any type of international promoting or contact administration. it ought to therefore be extra constructive to exercising consultation which parts you ought to prefer to visit, and then contact community faculties and officials to ascertain in the experience that they could propose someplace which may relish your information. yet another useful street should be to look into qualifying to coach English as a overseas Language (TEFL), because the agencies in this circulation ought to possibly have marketed vacancies to volunteer in small community faculties.

Answer 7

Have the girls join Girl Scouts. It's a great organization that welcomes all girls, provides wonderful activities and many community service opportunities.

Answer 8

Army, Navy, Airforce, Marines,

Answer 9

Take them to your local hospital or nursing home for visits with the people (i go to the nursing home & visit & help people all the time i really enjoy it)

Answer 10

try your local humane society or animal shelter. they can always use a hand walking dogs, cleaning cages, and feeding animals.