Volunteer teens: The pros and cons

I think that teens who volunteer show strong moral and humanitarian characteristics. These are the teens that will be featured in their senior high school year book with the caption most likely to succeed next their names.

As a parent I raise my children with main three goals in mind, surviviual morals, and respect. All three encompass everything they need to make it in the world as an adult.

Whether a teen decides to volunteer his or her time is not a reflection on their parents or upbringing. Simple reasons why a teen may decide against volunteering their time include; shyness, school work overload, a paying job, involvement in sports, performing arts or any extra activity. Just because they decide not to volunteer does not make them a lazy teen.

PROS

There are numerous pros to volunteering and numerous ways a teen can volunteer. For girls volunteering in a hospital as a candy striper is still as popular as it was 30 years ago. They deliver flowers, visit with patients and hand out magazines and books or push the snack cart through the hospital wards. If that young lady brings a smile to someone's face it's been a good day for her.

Young men still volunteer to mow their elderly neighbor's lawn or shovel their driveway in the winter. The simple smile and thank you from the neighbor is enough to put a smile on their face.

Regardless of what a teen volunteers to do it will them with a warm spot in their heart. It teaches them that by helping others they are important, respected and needed not just by a few people they help but by society as a whole.

Their acts of volunteer work make them human. Volunteering at a soup kitchen will make them appreciate what they have, even if they don't have the newest I-Pod or the brand new sports car they wanted for their sixteenth birthday.
A teen who volunteers at a car wash to raise money for a terminally ill person or one that was manned in a car accident teaches them that life is too short to be selfish. Here today gone tomorrow!

When a teen volunteers after a natural disaster it teaches them respect for others and team work.

Regardless of what a teen volunteers to do it will teach them that every coin has two sides, unconditional love and most importantly their contribution to society is just as important as anyone else's.

CONS

There are no cons for teens volunteering, if you as the parent feel that what your teen has decided to volunteer doing something that is unsafe or could cause them severe harm then suggest another way for them to volunteer.

ALTERNATIVES

Even shy teens or busy ones can find time to volunteer, write letters to the soldiers, learn to knit hats to keep the homeless people a little warmer this winter, get creative make care packages for the less fortune families during the holidays or anytime of year.

The pros outweigh the non-existent cons of volunteering the list of ways to volunteer is endless and there is no excuse for not participating in the act of volunteering for teens or adults.

Learn more about this author, Tammy L Mahan.
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