The Gift of Time

This week has been a big one for me “doing my bit” and I was inspired for my blog by the influx of people close to me who have also been “doing their bit”.

I believe, one of the greatest gifts you can give someone, is your time. You can splash out on fancy presents or give expensive cash and vouchers to people, but the one thing that is free and comes from the heart, is your time. Spending time with a child doing something fun, spending time with your family chatting, spending time with your friends catching up. These are things you can do for free, that will build your relationships and enrich your world…and theirs.

So this week, I really noticed that so many people close to me have been giving their gift of time to the community. My mum has been involved in her local school council contributing towards the direction and success of the local school; she has also been volunteering her time to run some fundraising events for the school. One of my sister in laws has just taken on a voluntary role at a community parent centre in a local shopping mall. It’s only 2 hours a week, but with 4 young children, that is a wonderful commitment from her to give something back to the town she lives in and help others. My uncle gave his time, with that of his band members, to play a concert at the local school in his town to raise funds for their school supplies and materials. I attended a great movie night last week with a friend who had organised it as a fundraiser for cancer research. And I have been inundated by kind people donating books to the fundraiser that I am running for literacy programs for disadvantaged kids in remote communities of Australia. People who I don’t even know, as well as my close friends and family.

There is no shortage of people out there who are willing to give their time to help causes that they truly believe in, and I think this is a beautiful thing we can teach and share with our children. As parents, grandparents, extended family and friends we are the role models that our children will look up to, and aspire to be like when they grow up, and don’t we want them to grow up being caring, giving, generous individuals?

There is so much that a child can learn from volunteering; there are the obvious literacy and numeracy skills that they can build on running a market stall or baking cookies from a recipe. But there are the skills of customer service, of sharing, of acceptance and tolerance, of contributing to society in a meaningful way and giving something to their community without any expectations of recognition or reward.

So my suggestion for this week, is to look around you, see what is out there that you love, find an organisation or a cause that is dear to yourself and your children, that inspires you or interests you and get involved! Give the gift of your time, and that of your kids and a make a difference to your community. If you love it, it will be fun, and if you’re having fun, your kids will too. Learning that’s fun. That’s what it’s all about.

See more ideas like this in my book Learning that's Fun