It takes a village to raise a child.

We have all heard this ancient African proverb so often it would be a cliche if it weren’t loaded with so much truth. Until my daughter entered kindergarten, I believed that our village was made up primarily of the friends and neighbors and family that offered love and care to my daughters.

Now, I can join the rest of you more seasoned parents with a fuller grasp of that proverb. The village extends far beyond our immediate, intimate community.

The village that is helping to educate my daughters extends even beyond teachers and staff and bus drivers.

It includes a vast, tightly interwoven network of volunteers.

In these first few weeks of school, my support has been requested no fewer than ten times. I may have lost count amid the many sheets of paper that come home. Most of these opportunities exclude younger siblings, so I’m working with a few neighbors to swap babysitting in order to allow one another to volunteer.

That means fellow parents and I will take on the original volunteer time as well as time later babysitting for other volunteers. It’s an ever-multiplying effort.

Then, if you are active in a faith community, there are a plethora of other volunteer opportunities that come highly encouraged for all village members.

One friend declared to a group of busy (if not fully employed) mothers, “I’m essentially working a half-time job between my volunteer commitments at my three children’s schools.”

Our modern-day villages depend on volunteerism in ways I never realized.

Sorry if I sound naive, but I warned you that I’m a new to the world of doing good.

When I fell in love with the DGT philosophy, I couldn’t yet see one of its more unique messages. We have so many wonderful and important – and often required – volunteer opportunities, from coaching volleyball to helping care for books in the school library to serving refreshments at one of the many functions.

Even with all of the responsibilities of our own, immediate village, we can use the Doing Good Together resources to extend our boundaries farther into our community, reaching out to groups who may not be represented in our immediate networks of child-centered volunteerism. We simply need to reserve a small amount of time to do so.

Though my list of other obligations is long, I’m very glad that Meals on Wheels is a fixed part of our calendar.

Now I just need to find a volunteer to pick Miss Kindergarten up from school while Little Miss Two and I make the rounds.

How have you found the balance between the volunteer requests of your immediate community and the calls for service from the broader community?

And how or when is it okay to say “no” to your school’s pleas for volunteers?

Tags: Building Community, Meals on Wheels, Parenting Challenges

About Sarah

Sarah Aadland is striving to make family volunteering a meaningful habit for her family of five. Join the conversation as she ponders what they may (or may not have) learned and looks for helpful information about raising compassionate kids.Though she plans to one day put her Masters in Public Policy back to work for social justice, she sees family volunteering as a way to build a stronger community, a better world, and a more connected family. In addition to her children, Sarah tends a large garden, a small flock of chickens, and a habit of mindfulness amid the necessary rituals of parenting.

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