Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Volunteering ideas - HELP!

I don't know if any of you have a grumpy, ungrateful child, but I do. I love her to death and am so glad to have her, but sometimes .... Well, you know. So, last night we were giving the lecture on being grateful for food. OF COURSE this was brought on by a loving and kind remark on how mom's dinners are ALWAYS delicious. jk. When Ryan said some kids don't have much food at all, she said, "So. Why do I care if others starve. I've got food."

We don't spoil our kids, and feel like they work around the house. We clean the church, and all the normal things. But OBVIOUSLY we need a little help! Now we are trying to come up with ways to volunteer and help the less fortunate. Looking online, we found tons of ideas, but the children need to be at least 12.

Does anyone have some help for me? What works for you? What kinds of acts of service can you give as a family? (Keep in mind there are NO needy people in our ward.) Thanks for your input! I really need it!

5 comments:

shayla said...

I too have some snotty girls-at times. But it's really an age thing. She'll grow out of it.

We started going to the hospital that I was on bedrest at and delivered Vivie at (and she stayed for 100 days)....and did care pkg baskets for the women on bedrest. My kids thoroughly enjoyed it...all of them--ages 2-10 (not included Vivie).

We're going to start volunteering by making/taking things to the NICU babies. The needs are different in each hospital but you could find info online or call Phx childrens hospital.

The kids can't actually go into the NICU, but they can deliver the goods to the hospital. It's easy to buy fleece and cut it into rectangles for blankies for the micro-preemies to lay on...or you could teach Ainsley how to crochet and make some beanies (for their really tiny heads). Anyway, just an idea to get the brain rolling. It obviously hits close to home for me with our experience this last year...and maybe it would help your kids appreciate the healthy baby more when he/she arrives! BTW, a good website to look on for free patterns is http://bevscountrycottage.com/patterns.html

or, they could adopt a gma/gpa in your ward since you don't have one in town of your own and do things for them:)

good luck!

SCRAPPNMOM said...

Great ideas Shayla! I want to volunteer more. We have had this same conversation with our kids. They have even told me to "go ahead and mail those poor kids their dinner they don't want". We were having this "ungrateful" problem right after Christmas when they didn’t receive toys that they wanted. One thing I did (by mistake really) seemed to work with them. We were in the valley one day, where there are sadly, many homeless people on the streets. I think that was the first time they had ever seen/noticed them before. Spencer asked many questions like, “why is that man standing on the street with a sign? What does he want from us?” Melanie was very concerned.

They began wanting to help them and give to them. Of-course, that brought up tithing/fast offering also. It is amazing, but every time they have that “ungrateful attitude”, it is usually one of the kids that mentions our visit to the valley and how lucky we are to have what we have. It sounds completely terrible…but show them! Kids are visual. Spencer even saw a commercial on TV that wanted money to help other kids in other countries. He wrote down the phone number and brought it to me and told me “even 10 cents a day would help them”.

I remember going to feed the homeless as a youth in LA and feeling very sad for the people and appreciative for what I had.

Kary Ann Hoopes Photography said...

retirement centers. she can draw pictures, which she love to do art, and then have her hand them out??

Meredith said...

Wow - I admire your way of trying to fight thru the spoiled kid and entitlement syndrome! I will be watching for ideas!!!!

mike sims said...

Great site...thanks for the update. When Ryan was little he didn't wat to weed the garden. I took him to Chesterfield to show him how people lived that didn't want to work. It was never a problem again.