How do older children get involved in volunteering, fundraising or campaigning activities? #iwill want to know: chance to win £300 NOW CLOSED

[AnnMumsnet]

We are working with the #iwill campaign to celebrate young people, aged 10-20, who take part in volunteering, fundraising and campaigning. #iwill would love to hear what your child does or what they’d like to do.

To celebrate #iwillWeek 2017 (which which runs between 20-24th November), we want Mumsnetters to celebrate young people who lead social action and their capacity for building communities by bringing others together. The week is all about shining a light on the impact that young people are having, as well as the great work of the 750+ #iwill partners who’ve pledged to create more social action opportunities.

Share your story below and here are some questions to get you thinking!

What do your children do in any of the following areas?

~ Volunteering - do they support environmental projects, older or vulnerable people or other young people themselves?
~ Fundraising - how do they get involved with raising money for local, national or international projects?
~ Campaigning - are they showing their caring side by fighting for something they believe in?

Why do they get involved?
How do you feel about your child getting involved in these kinds of activities?

If they don’t do this sort of thing, why not and do you think they would like to get involved in things like this? (there’s lots of opportunities to get involved here)

Please share your story below - everyone who does will be entered into a prize draw where one person will win two £150 vouchers for the store(s) of choice (from a list) - and you can keep one for yourself and give the other one to your child!

Thanks and good luck
MNHQ

Standard Insight T and Cs Apply

mine is now past this age - and still volunteering as an adult.

Children get involved initially because their parents are involved or because their school encourages it. It's difficult for children whose parents wont transport them to do a lot and if the parents dont volunteer themselves they may not be bringing their children up with any sense of social responsibility.

The scouting movement is great, as is Duke of Edinburgh but schools and even nurseries play their part by, to give a local example, having a harvest festival at nursery and then donating food to the food bank. You are then teaching very young children to think of and help others.

As far as fundraising goes - done a little and wish people would realise that the best way to fund raise is to sell something that people want to buy. So organise a concert instead of a sponsored silence or make items to sell.

Sadly mine is not into campaigning, I dont know how I'd encourage that.

As a family we have been pet sitting for the last 3 years. This is free for the pet owners. During this time we found ourselves at a sit in a small village in the north end my son was really bored. He is a cat person and the pet was a dog. He was turning 15 soon so I was keen for him to try volunteering.

I found an animal shelter nearby and he started going on the weekends. He loved it so much and it actually dramatically affected him. He became a different child. Happy outgoing and filled with aspiration. We were both sad when we had to leave but look forward to getting involved again when we move to a new home soon!!

My dd is a crafty child and loves spending time with elderly neighbors. She has enjoyed helping them around the house and in turn learning different crafts and how to paint etc.

My youngest tried the Duke of Edinburgh awards but found the outdoor activities a challenge.

I think it's important for my sons to help the causes they believe. My eldest goes to scouts and they do lots of fundraising for local causes, which I love as it's often the larger charities which get press

My 14 year old teenager volunteers with Rainbows despite never being previously involved with Girl Guiding. She helps run activities for a group of 5-7 year olds each week.

My nieces have been hugely inspired by signing up for the Duke of Edinburgh award at school and now enjoy volunteering at their old primary school and local youth club

My eldest DD is in University, she volunteers in her spare time by taking notes in lectures for people with autism. Youngest DS is on the autistic spectrum and I think the work she is doing is admirable, it also means that my son could attend university if he is offered the same support as his hand writing is poor and he is very slow writing, so it is great there is such a service available.

My son is an Explorer Scout and volunteers at the Cub Scout Pack. He has been involved in fundraising activites, helping at events and being involved in village events.

I am a Scout leader along with my husband and feel very proud that he has chosen to help at Cubs and give something back. He enjoys it which helps!

My son does a lot of fundraising as part of the school, they do non-uniform days, gardening activities where they sell off all the plants after they have been grown/nurtured (school wins best flower awards every year!), as well as numerous art projects and table top sales to raise money. He also has done several park runs and sponsored activities and is always willing to give back to the local community in some way.

Volunteering- do they support environmental projects, older or vulnerable people or other young people themselves?

DD is 6 and would be on the frontline with anything for endangered animals and vulnerable people. She does help me sort things for the homeless but realistically she's too young to give real support. She is part of rainbows and they volunteer their time to litter pick and do some gardening.

~Fundraising- how do they get involved with raising money for local, national or international projects?

When I started doing some outreach things for the homeless her first thought was to put it in the school newsletter and ask people for donations, there's now a donations box outside the office and regular needed things are donated. Very proud of that!

~Campaigning- are they showing their caring side by fighting for something they believe in?

Yes, regularly asking what can we do about a situation. Have attended protests that she/we care about such as a the education March.

My DS (8) and DD (10) both decided a few years ago that they wanted to raise money for Children in Need and for the last 3 years they have set up a stall at our front door and with a few friends they have run a bake sale raising £370 + gift aid since they started. They also help fundraise in ther local after school. They help out at cubs with the Xmas card deliveries. My DD also volunteers at school to support younger children in various activities and clubs.

My little one is way under this age but she comes to the park run (when its not cold!) And we've been collecting Christmas boxes together this year so teaching her to volunteer early

DS does quite a lot of volunteering and charity work for Cubs, for example helping to collect for food banks and fundraising with bake sales and events or litter picking. He loves doing it, has some great friends and I think it provides a good basis for him growing up feeling part of the community and able to do his bit to make a difference or for those who are less fortunate.

My eldest (17) and youngest (15) volunteer as instructors at their local martial arts school. Both are first degree black belts and enjoy the sport helping to teach various age groups from children aged 4+ to adults. They also help to run the tombola used to raise funds to send a team each year to a major tournament.

My middle child (15 - twin of youngest) is currently helping at the local library as her silver DofE placement. She has helped with a baby bounce and rhyme time, zombie apocalypse, summer reading challenge and other specialist events run by the library service.

In the past they have helped at school events for Children in Need, collected shoeboxes of gifts at Christmas, baked cakes for a cake sale and bag packed when cubs.

My DS volunteered in our local village library as part of his DoE.

What do your children do in any of the following areas?

~ Volunteering - do they support environmental projects, older or vulnerable people or other young people themselves?

My 14 year old son is an ambassador for his school. Next year he will he volunteering at a local primary school.

~ Fundraising - how do they get involved with raising money for local, national or international projects?

He is currently collecting food for a local food bank at his school during advent.

~ Campaigning - are they showing their caring side by fighting for something they believe in?

He is a member of his schools labour party.

Why do they get involved?
How do you feel about your child getting involved in these activities?

He gets involved because he cares about social injustice.

I am very proud of him.

Mine are 11 & 8 and only get involved with fund raising at school events for now.

I am actually really looking forward to them being a little older and doing things like Duke of Edinburgh - where by they see the bigger social/community picture and get themselves involved in more things.

DC is involved with the local Children's Hospice and helps out every year at the Christmas Fair stall and the Light Up A Life service and other events and also took part in a sponsored 25 mile bicycle ride. They have donated to food banks and understand that other people have different circumstances and that while we are not rich, we are lucky compared to some people.

My 13 year old is quite partial to bake sales - I say quite partial she joins in to anyone she can find. She loves baking cakes and loves volunteering my baking skills too ever since she was knee high. Last red nose day she organised her own and did one just outside the park gates so when all the local football teams finished their training they bought a cake and had a free cup of squash. Ella raised over £300 and she blogged it all with photos for a school project. Ella got an award from her school and her whole class gets to enjoy her prize and she has chosen for her whole class to go ice skating!! heart of gold my girl has!

Brownies and Guides have encouraged fundraising and volunteering. They packed shoppers bags in the supermarket to fundraise.

The school is also good at encouraging the kids to choose charities to support and think up fundraising events.

Two of my daughters when aged approx. 11 and 12 arranged a sponsored walk in pyjamas to raise money for Children In Need. They asked our local supermarket if they could stay in the foyer at the end of the walk to raise more for a while. They raised around £450, all their own planning and work :)

my eldest loves recycling and helping the environment. He goes to an Eco Club at school once a week, he helps me sort out the recycling so we don't throw as much away. We go through old toys and sometimes reluctantly he gives them to other children so they're not sat in his room.
He loves getting involved with fundraising projects the school do

My ds is just about to enter this age group. I think whatever he would get involved in at this age would need to be pretty closely supported, but you can see that he is really ready to do things that help other people. All the posts on this page show that teenage doesn't have to be the grunting, obsessive, angsty, time-wasting time that we like to make it out to be.

My DD is still young, but she helps in her own way. She likes to bake for charity fundraisers, she picks out something for the food bank every time we go shopping, and she sorts out her things to donate to the charity shop for other children to have when she doesn't need them any more.

Our's are still rather young to be involved without parental support, but they're very keen on supporting anything to do with cancer research, support groups etc after Granny had treatment. We all used a local cancer support group that had children's activities during the holiday and they really enjoyed those. Now they're about to help out at the Christmas Fayre!