Solo Mother

Volunteering with children

by christina on May 17th, 2008

The King of Everything and I volunteered for a Service Day here in town, and met up with some great groups working together under the umbrella of Americorps to beautify a school in a rougher neighborhood in the city. The school’s playground backs onto an alley, and often, the gangs are recruiting from right there. The volunteers today painted murals to hang on the fence, blocking much of the view of the alley and preventing such close interaction between those inside, and those outside. When I first told the kid what we’d be doing on Saturday, I’d expected groaning and moaning. Instead, I got a, “You mean, we’re going to go HELP another SCHOOL??? And PAINT!? COOL!!!”

Um. Yeah. That’s my KoE, all right.

What neither of us anticipated was exactly how much fun it was going to be. There were representatives from several different groups, including Sports for Kids, who led us all in fun games and cheers. What struck me was that, of the dozen or so kids milling around the event, my son was the only one who joined in these games. I don’t think it ever occurred to him to look around and notice he was the only kid in the group. He played a game where everyone went around and said their name and their favorite food. He played Switch, some nutso running around game. He played Zip Zap Zop where everyone throws the sounds around the circle. He played four square and Samurai. He played every manner of game and never threw a tantrum when he was out. I watched him in amazement. He walked down the line high-fiving teenagers, grownups, complete strangers all. When the organized games broke up, he beelined for a guy playing soccer at the far end of the field. He rallied all the other littler kids to join in some bizarre monkey game on the playground equipment. He made friends. He talked to everyone. He painted the murals.

He was entirely in his element. I was amazed by him. Look what he can do. And he’s only five.

What I wanted to say to those of you with older children is this: get them out there. Get them interested in the world as a large, amazing place. Get them to volunteer. And when they go off to college, encourage them to pursue the Peace Corps, or Americorps, or to find internships with non-profits that are trying to change the world. You’ll all be very glad. And so will the world.

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POSTED IN: activism