Spreading Kindness & Developing Empathy through Volunteering with Your Children
Helping others feels good. Even the smallest act of kindness creates a ripple effect.
When we “pay it forward,” research states it spreads to at least three degrees of separation. This means when we witness someone being kind or generous to others, it not only feels good inside to us but also inspires us to want to be generous towards others, a sensation researchers have coined as “moral elevation” and “emotional contagion.” It is the small acts done repeatedly that really make a big difference. Spreading kindness in your home and spending time volunteering in your community can be an invaluable experience for your family.
Spreading Kindness in Your Home
Discuss the idea of “pay it forward” by watching Muzamil Hasan’s birthday challenge to spread kindness in his hometown of Islamabad, Pakistan through 22 Random Acts of Kindness. For each kind act we do for others, others often pass another kind act along, spreading like wildfire. We’ve all heard about the viral drive-thru experiences of the person in front of you in line paying for your order that often repeats for hours.
Create a secret family mission challenge in your home each week by having each family member randomly select another family member to complete random acts of kindness throughout the week. At the end of the week, see if your “target” can guess you and see if you can guess who was your secret kindness agent.
Read Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch by Eileen Spinelli. This story follows Mr. Hatch who has a routined life and no friends. One day he receives a package from a secret admirer. Knowing that somebody loves him, he decides to smile and make new friends. He performs many acts of kindness towards others in his town. An unexpected twist helps him see how important he really is to others.
Other great titles to expand your conversations about kindness and paying it forward include:
What If Everybody Did That? by Ellen Javernick,
The Invisible Boy by Trudy Ludwig, or
Ordinary Mary's Extraordinary Deed by Emily Pearson.
Play “Pay it Forward” Bingo as a family. Try and complete all of the squares (blackout) on your family board by the end of the week. Create your own board or use inspiration from Wise Guys’ TPT bundle.
Expanding into Our Community
Volunteering encourages cooperation through sharing a common goal with others, and how to work together and compromise to achieve that goal. Volunteering helps spark interests and passions by exposing children to new occupations and skills they don’t get to see during typical life routines. Volunteering helps children expand their world by uniting like-minded individuals they wouldn’t normally interact with and allows them to see the challenges other less fortunate families face to gain perspective on their privileges. Volunteering can help children develop many life skills:
Impulse control
Being able to express needs and opinions
Negotiation and problem-solving skills
Sense of identity and self-esteem
Empathy
Coping skills
Ability to set boundaries
Establish independence
Leadership skills
Here are a few fun ways that your children can volunteer and give back to their community:
Participating in an organized walk or run that gives the proceeds to a charity (as a runner or a water station volunteer)
Make and give homemade treats, care packages (bottled water & a snack), or small surprises to delivery drivers or garbage truck workers that frequent your home
Volunteer to play with or walk dogs at an animal shelter
Plant flowers or trees at their school or library (with permission)
Sit outdoors to write thank-you notes to people who have done something nice for them
Adopt a local monument or block and keep it clean
Volunteer at a local nature center, farm, or zoo
Organize a neighborhood yard sale, bake sale, lemonade stand or car wash and donate the proceeds to charity
Need more ideas? Here are some local Family-Friendly Volunteer Organizations to check out in Austin:
Generation Serve - Teaches your family about community resources and how the whole family can become involved in donating time and heart to help others.
Central Texas Food Bank - Provides food to families in need in the community.
Urban Roots - Shows your family how to grow and obtain food, as well as helping out others at the same time.
Partnerships for Children - Bring the family out and help sort, tag, and wrap gifts for children that are less fortunate giving them the opportunity to unwrap gifts during the holiday season.
Big Hearted Family - Offers multiple activities for you and your family to volunteer such as feeding the hungry, caring for animals, or cleaning the community.
Volunteering doesn’t need to take all day and doesn’t need to feel like a chore. A good starting place is to think about what your family and your children already enjoy doing, then find opportunities that appeal to their interests. By tailoring your volunteer activities to your child’s passions, you will help keep them involved and invested. Hands-on learning is much more fun than just seeing or hearing about a topic so get out into your community and talk to others, make social connections, and clean up the earth. You’ll all walk away with positive family memories and they’ll experience the power that their choices and actions can make a difference in our world.
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WRITTEN BY JACLYN SEPP, MA, LPC-S, RPT-S™, NCC, RYT® 200 (SHE/HER/HERS)
Jaclyn believes that all human beings, no matter how small, deserve a place to be accepted for who they are, which drove her to establish Ensemble Therapy in 2015 with the mission to bring high quality therapeutic services to children, teens, and their families in Central Austin. Jaclyn is a Licensed Professional Counselor Supervisor (LPC-S), Registered Play Therapist Supervisor™ (RPT-S™), National Certified Counselor (NCC) and Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT® 200). She received her Master’s Degree in Professional Counseling from Texas State University (CACREP Accredited Program) and her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology with a Minor in Applied Learning & Development from The University of Texas at Austin.
