With the holiday season upon us it’s an important time to allow kids to take time and reflect on the things they have been provided. December is a great time to provide gifts to family and friends and bring people closer together, bu it’s also an opportunity to teach the importance of giving to others who are less fortunate. Promoting the spirit of giving is a great way to encourage others to share their resources. Here are some tips and tricks for encouraging your child to share their resources.
Give Choices
Providing your child with choices is a quick easy way to make any activity that may seem dull to a child something that is more fun for them. Giving two or three varying organizations to work with helps allow your child to be more apart of the volunteering or donating process. If they’re forced into one activity or another they may not be as excited to participate or see volunteering as a mandatory experience rather than a fulfilling opportunity to give back to the community.
Make It Fun
When giving your child the opportunity to volunteer or donate something of theirs try to make the organization something they care about. Whether it is their love for sports, camp or horses there is always an organization to be found that is close to your child’s heart. Choosing a charity or cause that your child is interested in means that will be more interested in the giving process and may be able to better understand what their giving does.
Invite Family and Friends
Volunteering can be a fun experience! Make an event out of it and invite family and friends. Get peers, relatives, or neighbors involved and give your child a chance to see that volunteering is a community wide experience meant for people of all ages. By inviting others along your child can have fun, give to others, and provide others with the great opportunity to spend some of their time volunteering.
Talk About It
If your child isn’t very excited about the charity process there is a chance they don’t really understand what effect their actions are having on other people. It can be good to sit down and talk with them before volunteering or donating something to help explain what they will be doing and how it’s going to help a family, person, or even animal because of what they’re doing! Images can be helpful too. Showing your child a specific group of people who your child will be helping will help them visualize who their volunteering experience is going to help. Talk about the event too! See how they felt during the process and what they want to do next time.
Teaching the spirit of giving is a great opportunity to give back to an organization you and your child are passionate about. No matter what age it’s never too late to learn the benefits of donation time a resources to someone in need. Take some time during this Holiday season to talk with your family about the spirit of giving and see what they want to do to help out in their community.
For ideas on where to start volunteering and donating here are foundations that we support throughout the year.
Spirit of Giving Campaign
Every year the Roughing It office promotes several great causes to allow families in the area to donate itmes to benefit those in need. Check out the three organizations we support below.
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One Warm Coat: Bring in gently used coats and jackets of any size for families in need. |
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Toys for Tots: Donate new and unwrapped toys for less fortunate children. |
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Food Drive: Drop off non-perishable food to help feed families in the Bay Area. |
Roughing It Foundation
The Roughing It Foundation is another way to assist campers in attending camp. Roughing It sends anywhere from five to fifteen campers to Roughing it through our campership program. Donations are accepted throughout the year. The funds provided are used to send kids who otherwise could not afford camp to Roughing It. While some money is donated annonomously it can also be donated to a specific child or camper in need.
Camp Sizanani
Getting the opportunity to attend camp is a privilege and not something that every child is given the opportunity to do. The cost of attending camp can sometimes be too great to make it possible for some families. So what better way to spread the wonder of camp than by raising funds to provide more children the chance to attend. Each summer our oldest campers work together to promote Camp Sizanani. This camp operates in South Africa and gives children a chance to experince the joys of camp. Each summer the goal is to raise enough money to send at least one child to camp.
