Summer of Service

I have had this idea for YEARS & I feel like I finally have the capacity to make it happen!

I so badly want to instill the quality & value of service into my kids. I want them to be good at looking outside of themselves, and noticing or praying and receiving inspiration of who could use some help, a pick me up or just would appreciate being noticed. I want this to become second nature for them. I already try to do my best to model it for them and explain who and why I’m serving someone when I do it. But I want them to have more opportunities to do it themselves!

So that’s where Summer of Service was born!

Here’s how it works:

Each week, one of my kids will choose someone that they feel like could use some service or we will pray over who Heavenly Father would like us to help that week. I think this is a good opportunity to discuss other people’s feelings & emotions, possible needs someone my have, how we felt after prayer & what came to our hearts and minds, etc.

Some ideas of people to serve: friends, grandparents, aunts/uncles, teachers, church leaders, neighbors, etc.

Then we will decide how to serve them! This will always depend on the person & what our week might look like. But we will discuss how to best serve them and what we think they would appreciate.

Some service ideas are:

Bake Something: Bread, cookies, rolls, meal, etc.

Create Something: Painting, drawing, bracelet, etc.

Pick or Send Something: Fresh veggies or flowers from the garden, mail a letter or care package

Host Someone: Playdate, lunch, dessert

Eventually I will add Do Something: Weed, clean, babysit, pick up garbage, volunteer, etc. But I know I don’t have the capacity for that right now with 4 young kids so that will come later.

The kids will be heavily involved in making or creating or picking whatever we are bringing or sending to someone. Then we will all take it to them while the child who chose that person hands it to them or drops it off. I want them to be able to see firsthand how much something like a jar of flowers or a piece of art can make somebody’s day.

I made this 11”x14” poster & had it printed at Walgreens for under $7(they almost always have a 50% off code active). I also printed some little flowers that I will cut out and use to mark off every week of summer as we serve someone! (I’ll link the printable at the end of this post!)

My Hope

My hope is to foster a natural love of service & looking outwards onto others & think about how they can make the world a better place. I want them to be quick to serve & help someone when they notice a need. I want them to learn to be kind always, to ask their Heavenly Father how they can do His work and help His children. Sometimes this already comes naturally to my children, but I want to instill it even deeper & show them how I also love to serve others.

I would love to see how your kids choose to serve others! Please tag me in your Instagram Stories or Posts so I can see & share🫶🏼