What Do You Do to Help Your Child Volunteer?

Consider the following statistics from a June 2010 Centers for Disease Control’s 2009 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance survey:

•  By 12th grade, 62 percent of teenagers have had sexual intercourse, much without use of condoms, and many with several partners.
• By 12th grade, 19.3 percent of boys and 11.4 percent of girls have driven a car while under the influence of alcohol
• By 12th grade, 26.5 percent of males and 6.4 percent of females reported carrying a weapon
• By the 12th grade, 9.1 percent of males and 2.9 percent of females have carried a weapon to school within 30 days of the survey
• By the 12th grade, 55 percent of students report the use of tobacco products.
• By the 12th grade, 79.9 percent of students have used alcohol.
• By the 12th grade, 45.6 percent of students report having used marijuana.

Getting your child involved in something beyond themselves is an excellent way to combat the likelihood they will indulge in these kinds of activities that can threaten to their well being.

Kids who volunteer have less time to get into trouble, are exposed to folks who are in need of help, and come to understand they CAN make a difference.

The Sweetwater Union High School District requires 30 hours of community service to graduate, and the South Bay Union School District now has as a Board priority that their students undergo a service learning project every year.

Since my girls were born, they’ve been included in volunteering. They were pushed in strollers in 5K walks benefitting animal shelters, military groups and breast cancer foundations. They have worked numerous events bagging groceries for food giveaways, making phone calls, and volunteering in schools helping teachers and librarians. They are now young adults who have learned it’s their civic responsibility to help where they can. In fact, our eldest plans to become a police officer.