How to Help a Teen Find Summer Volunteer Work

Helping your teen find the perfect summer volunteer job doesn't have to be hard. Keep your son or daughter's interests in mind when helping them search for volunteer work. Finding them a job that they enjoy can benefit others as much as themselves. Read on to learn more.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Read the classifieds. Some volunteer positions can be found in classified ads under other paying jobs.

2. Visit the local hospitals and clinics. Most are always looking for volunteers to do anything from hand out reading materials to spending time with kids in the hospital.

3. Contact food banks or homeless shelters. If you're teen is a responsible young adult, it's better to let him call the shelter or stop by to find out about volunteer opportunities.

4. Take your son or daughter to visit a nursing home or retirement community. A visit is sometimes a better idea before actually committing to volunteering at any job, but this is especially true at a nursing home where your teen may feel too uncomfortable at times. If your teen can relax and enjoy the elderly, he may find a perfect volunteer position.

5. Steer a reader to the library, an animal lover to the veteranarian's office or animal shelter, a sports enthusiast to the youth center. Figure out what your teen enjoys, and find them a volunteer job they'll love.

6. Put signs up at local grocery stores, post offices and laundry mats. Volunteering can be as simple as mowing lawn for someone who can't mow their lawn; taking a handicap person for a walk or reading the paper to the neighbor with poor vision each morning.

Tips & Warnings

• Emphasize the importance of helping others while volunteering, but it doesn't hurt to remind your teen that volunteering provides him with valuable experience amd references for future jobs.
• Encourage your teen to ask questions and learn as much as they can during a volunteer job. Sometimes volunteer work can lead to an actual paying job in the future.
• Once you're teen is volunteering, make sure he or she understands how important it is to show up for the work on time. Just because the job isn't paid doesn't mean a lot isn't depending on them.
• If you're teen is getting too overwhelmed, is tired or has had problems in school since starting to vounteer, it's better to stop the volunteer work and focus on keeping your teen up to speed at school.

Resources

• Get volunteer ideas from Family Education.
• Consider sending your teen on a volunteer mission.