Volunteering Hours

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In middle school, all of our child's volunteer hours were to be done at home. She was my personal assistant completing tasks assigned by me like:

1. Wrapping all Christmas presents for her cousin, grandparents, and other family members. (Glorious! And she loved every minute of it.)
2. Getting all of her clothes ready for camp. (We ordinarily do this together, but she took the packing list and got all her clothes and toiletries out, name stamped everything, and made a list of the stuff she needed.)
3. Making dessert for family holiday gathering.
4. Shredding stuff that needed shredding.

I am also not a good rule follower so we also volunteered to cook and serve a meal at a shelter.

This is not volunteering. These are chores.

+1 Pretty sad that she's not actually volunteering. Does it feel good to help your child skirt the system when she could be doing something that helps others?

The poster said that the hours were to be done at home. What gives? Yes, it is not real volunteering, but it is teaching kids about doing things for others. Better than nothing.

I suspect PP may have also just misunderstood what the school meant by "volunteer hours must be done at home." It would not surprise me if they didn't literally mean "in your home," but instead meant "not on school time" (which is a common requirement). Poorly worded if so, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In middle school, all of our child's volunteer hours were to be done at home. She was my personal assistant completing tasks assigned by me like:

1. Wrapping all Christmas presents for her cousin, grandparents, and other family members. (Glorious! And she loved every minute of it.)
2. Getting all of her clothes ready for camp. (We ordinarily do this together, but she took the packing list and got all her clothes and toiletries out, name stamped everything, and made a list of the stuff she needed.)
3. Making dessert for family holiday gathering.
4. Shredding stuff that needed shredding.

I am also not a good rule follower so we also volunteered to cook and serve a meal at a shelter.

This is not volunteering. These are chores.

+1 Pretty sad that she's not actually volunteering. Does it feel good to help your child skirt the system when she could be doing something that helps others?

The poster said that the hours were to be done at home. What gives? Yes, it is not real volunteering, but it is teaching kids about doing things for others. Better than nothing.

No, that is teaching kids about doing things for themselves. Packing for her own camp? Wrapping gifts she is giving? Cooking and shredding things for her own family?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In middle school, all of our child's volunteer hours were to be done at home. She was my personal assistant completing tasks assigned by me like:

1. Wrapping all Christmas presents for her cousin, grandparents, and other family members. (Glorious! And she loved every minute of it.)
2. Getting all of her clothes ready for camp. (We ordinarily do this together, but she took the packing list and got all her clothes and toiletries out, name stamped everything, and made a list of the stuff she needed.)
3. Making dessert for family holiday gathering.
4. Shredding stuff that needed shredding.

I am also not a good rule follower so we also volunteered to cook and serve a meal at a shelter.

This is not volunteering. These are chores.

+1 Pretty sad that she's not actually volunteering. Does it feel good to help your child skirt the system when she could be doing something that helps others?

The poster said that the hours were to be done at home. What gives? Yes, it is not real volunteering, but it is teaching kids about doing things for others. Better than nothing.

No, that is teaching kids about doing things for themselves. Packing for her own camp? Wrapping gifts she is giving? Cooking and shredding things for her own family?

+1 - examples of volunteering from home: create cards for a senior center, gather outgrown or unwanted clothing for Goodwill, write letters to troops, the list can go on.

[Anonymous]

j2415 wrote:My son is a sophomore in high school and they are also required to volunteer. He is also busy in sports and school but volunteering will also be good for his resume for college. Every day, he has to go to baseball games and practice so his only option is Saturdays, so he goes to feeding the homeless and nursing home. By doing this, it develops him to be compassionate to others.

Since your children are also busy, you may want to try to volunteer on weekends too. Your kids may want to try helping the elderly neighbor to clean their yard or do housework. They may want to try babysitting to help those working moms. I hope this helps. Thank you for sharing.

+1 Another option is mentoring a middle school student in a disadvantaged school district or helping with reading, math. There are many ways in which your kid can squeeze in time to give back. Sometimes through volunteering the students learn something about themselves or discover a passion they want to pursue. I think that is what colleges love the most, when an applicant discovers a passion, empathy, importance of giving back or life lesson instead of just going through the motion of volunteering because their school required it.