Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Have your child make pictures for kids, elderly, military, first responders, hospital personnel who can’t be at home this Christmas. Pictures for military overseas should be mailed ASAP, the rest could wait til next week or even Christmas Day for anyone working in a hospital or as a first responder.


Look for clearance pet food and donate it to rescues (3yo have a blast looking for red/orange tags!). Sometimes you can find 2-4 cases of a single flavor of wet food when it was being discontinued. Big bags with tiny tears work well for large kennels. If you have enough you can’t transport, you can sometimes arrange for the rescue to pick up from the pet store the following day.

What?
Look, I know you mean well but please do not send random/kid pictures to deployed military. They aren't little kids.

Some enjoy them. My sister did.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are stay-cationing from Christmas to New Years and would like to spend at least one of the days volunteering as a family. We have a curious 3 year old. Can anyone recommend organizations that have volunteer opportunities for us all to participate in? We are particularly interested in opportunities related to helping other people (versus animals, environment clean-up, etc.). We live in DC but are willing to drive up to 30 minutes. Many thanks in advance for your suggestions!

If you want to involve your 3 yr. old then look into taking her to a senior citizen home or hospice where people love to see children. Otherwise, kitchen are not friendly places for a child that young! If she doesn't like strangers then volunteer by yourself. Also, as has been pointed out many times, there are 52: weeks in a year so try being Lady Bountiful during the other 51 weeks of the year!

Most senior homes and hospices do not want a stranger and her three year old visiting during flu and Norovirus season, especially considering mot three year olds are walking Petri dishes (said gently, as I have a Petri dish of my own).

Despite her arguments, especially about her agencies being closed over the holidays, I have a hard time believing that someone who works with foster children and ESL adults (who are often disadvantaged due to recent immigration) has no creative ideas or networking solutions of her own.

So said again, which is said every year: your three year old is too young to volunteer in an agency setting. Find an elderly or disabled,e neighbour and shovel their driveway, help them do a garbage run or decluttering, wrap presents or make some meals. Let him pick presents for an angel tree, and help give them to the agency. Have him pick out old toys for donation.

Anonymous wrote:We are stay-cationing from Christmas to New Years and would like to spend at least one of the days volunteering as a family. We have a curious 3 year old. Can anyone recommend organizations that have volunteer opportunities for us all to participate in? We are particularly interested in opportunities related to helping other people (versus animals, environment clean-up, etc.). We live in DC but are willing to drive up to 30 minutes. Many thanks in advance for your suggestions!

If you want to involve your 3 yr. old then look into taking her to a senior citizen home or hospice where people love to see children. Otherwise, kitchen are not friendly places for a child that young! If she doesn't like strangers then volunteer by yourself. Also, as has been pointed out many times, there are 52: weeks in a year so try being Lady Bountiful during the other 51 weeks of the year!

^these are all good suggestions. The problem is nobody sees them or know OP did them and this is about being visible and getting attention. Which is why she wanted to bring her 3 year old to a homeless shelter to hand out food as if people in need are props.

The previous posters are right about going to place - a 3 yr old will get in the way and you won’t be an effective volunteer because you will be distracted with your child.

So start doing activities at home that can grow with your child. If you don’t want to do them alone, get some friends over and make a play date out of it.

— get a refillable tote bag and every trip to the store have your child pick out on of there favorites - favorite crackers, favorite cookies, and so on. Buy one for him and one to donate. Have him put one item away at home and one item in the bag. Tell him how great it is to share his favorites with others. Once the bag is filled find a food drive sop off to donate and then repeat the process

— color pictures for Color a Smile - you send them in and the distribute to nursing homes, etc. They have easy to color pages on their website you can print off to color and send to them.

— make cards for Send a Smile

Just know when sending drawings and cards to these kind of organizations that if your kid mostly just scribbles in the paper, they can’t use them. You can have your child make a card by placing stickers with your help.

- make placemats for Meals on Wheels

— make toys for shelter animals - many shelters list the instructions right on their website. Toys for small animals are really easy - empty toilet paper roll stuffed with hay

— pick up Woman’s World magazine - each issue they list a place that collects items that support military members and their families. Have your child help you shop
For the items and box them up to send

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Have your child make pictures for kids, elderly, military, first responders, hospital personnel who can’t be at home this Christmas. Pictures for military overseas should be mailed ASAP, the rest could wait til next week or even Christmas Day for anyone working in a hospital or as a first responder.


Look for clearance pet food and donate it to rescues (3yo have a blast looking for red/orange tags!). Sometimes you can find 2-4 cases of a single flavor of wet food when it was being discontinued. Big bags with tiny tears work well for large kennels. If you have enough you can’t transport, you can sometimes arrange for the rescue to pick up from the pet store the following day.

What?
Look, I know you mean well but please do not send random/kid pictures to deployed military. They aren't little kids.

My dad was deployed to desert storm in Christmas 1991. They fed the men Christmas Eve dinner and after dinner he walked to check his mail. His aunt, who taught 5th grade, had had her students lake him notes and pictures and sent them in a big envelopes. He still has them to this day and he said it did make being away for Christmas just a little bit better that night. I love one in particular where a kid drew saguaros (his idea of “desert”) dressed as Christmas trees. It says “it must feel low / to have no snow/ on Christmas Eve. But you might feel better/because of this letter/that you just received.”

Don’t underestimate what that little gesture can mean is what I’m saying.

Anonymous wrote:

Have your child make pictures for kids, elderly, military, first responders, hospital personnel who can’t be at home this Christmas. Pictures for military overseas should be mailed ASAP, the rest could wait til next week or even Christmas Day for anyone working in a hospital or as a first responder.


Look for clearance pet food and donate it to rescues (3yo have a blast looking for red/orange tags!). Sometimes you can find 2-4 cases of a single flavor of wet food when it was being discontinued. Big bags with tiny tears work well for large kennels. If you have enough you can’t transport, you can sometimes arrange for the rescue to pick up from the pet store the following day.

What?
Look, I know you mean well but please do not send random/kid pictures to deployed military. They aren't little kids.