John F. Kennedy once said, “Children are the world’s most valuable resource and its best hope for the future.” Investing time into youth development does more than nurture their emotional and social maturity: it helps them achieve their full potential. By encouraging participation in charitable initiatives when younger, it may help them shape their community for the better in the long term.
At CCI Personal Insurance, we proudly support a range of community youth events, such as Shared Stories, World Youth Day and the Ignite Conference. Through these initiatives, we have witnessed how community activities can help shape a child’s world.
The importance of community involvement
When you involve your child in community activities from an early age, you are helping them develop a deeper understanding and awareness of those around them. You are also giving them a sense of belonging to a place, and to people. Most importantly, you’re letting them know that they are part of a larger network they can reach out to for support.
Want to start educating your child about the relevance and value of community involvement? Here are 6 ways to teach your children about community participation.
Different ways to teach your child about community involvement
Discuss community involvement at the table
Starting a conversation about the community and how one can get involved is an effortless way to bring attention to various causes. When asking your kids about what they’re learning at school and during extracurricular activities, you can gauge further insights about community service activities that you think might be a great fit. As a parent, you can then lead family activities such as volunteering at a soup kitchen, which will give your child exposure to real-world issues whilst engaging them in a new and positive experience.
Consult the UN’s sustainable development goals
In September 2018, the United Nations released a list of sustainable development goals, ranging from access to clean water to affordable and clean energy or eradicating hunger. Look over each goal with your children and see which one appeals most to their values. Then, find organisations in your area that specialise in the issue, so you can actively get involved and see how your contributions can make a positive difference.
Encourage them to join a youth group
One of the easiest ways to teach your child about community involvement is to sign them up to a youth group. See if your local church or community centre offers activities or programs like singing groups, arts and crafts, or even a book club. Enrolling them in Girl or Boy Scouts will also teach them life skills as well as the importance of community involvement.
Introduce them to a range of initiatives
Kids aren’t going to be passionate about every volunteer opportunity – and that’s okay. By exposing them to a variety of causes, your child may naturally gravitate towards an endeavour that resonates with them. What’s more, they may uncover hidden skills or talents that they never knew they had. For example, Tiny Houses is an organisation targeting homelessness. They have partnered with the Australian Apprentice Association (AAA) in which apprentices design and build houses for people in need.
Cultivate stakeholders
Invite celebrity influencers and sports personalities to speak out about initiatives close to their heart and within the community. For schools, it can be as simple as organising a guest speaker from a football team to attend an assembly and speak about their club’s involvement with a particular issue or cause.
Be a model citizen
Teaching your child about community involvement doesn’t have to be complicated. In fact, charity starts in the home. Consider implementing the following strategies in their presence:
- Go through your closet to find clothes you haven’t worn in a while and get your children to do the same. Donate these clothes to the Salvation Army.
- Rake the leaves off the front lawn of your elderly neighbour or offer to wash their car
- Take your child with you as you donate blood. Then, talk to them about why you do it and what you hope to achieve.
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