One of the most virtuous things that you can teach your children is how to give of themselves to those that are less fortunate. Teaching them how to do this will help them not to focus on themselves only. Volunteering and other acts of kindness will help them to learn many other wonderful and humble traits, such as being patient.
Volunteering our time was commonplace in our house. With deliberation I made sure that we had a new project each year to do something nice for someone less fortunate. Some of our projects included raising money for the local animal shelter, walking dogs at our local animal shelter and taking sports equipment to a home for troubled children (their faces lit right up when they saw us coming with bags of goodies.)
To help bring out the best in your children, encourage kindness. To help make your child more caring toward others there are many volunteer projects that you can do with your kids.
Some of these projects include:
* Picking a name off of the Christmas tree at church during the holidays to buy a present
* Helping out in the community by picking up trash
* Walking dogs at the local animal shelter
* Raising money to help the local animal shelter
* Serving food at the local homeless shelter. This is especially nice during the holiday
season.
* Donating a wrapped gift during the holidays to a child. They usually have bins set up specifically for this
* Participating in area charity walks
* Wrapping a shoebox and filling it up during the holidays with all kinds of trinkets for kids for Operation Christmas Child
* Bringing your little doggy friend to the local nursing home to visit with the elderly
* Participating in a food drive
Help your kids to bring out the best in themselves. Help them to build their self-esteem and self-confidence. Help your kids get that “feel good” feeling.