Volunteering for your child’s school provides a number of benefits and can be done in a number of ways to suit your needs. It should be something that you are happy to do and not something that you dread on a continual basis, so here are a few tips on how to make volunteering work for you:
1) Think about what you would like to get out of your volunteering. Your objectives will determine what activities are best to volunteer for.
– Do you want to see how your child interacts with his/her peers? Maths & Literacy groups, help on excursions or at sporting carnivals are ideal for this.
– Are you after background Intel on what’s happening at the school or would you like to meet other parents? Jobs like helping with the canteen, the uniform shop or in the admin office will help you with these.
– Simply wanting to make the school better. Help providing (wo)man power at the working bees or utilise your business skills.
2) Think realistically about the amount of time you can give – some activities will require more time and effort than others. Don’t worry if you don’t have much time or work full time. Some tasks can be done at night or you can work with the teachers and other parents to create a solution that works for you. For example I really wanted to do literacy groups but was worried about how it would be with my toddler and baby and I couldn’t commit to it on a weekly basis. I have spoken to the teachers and am only doing the groups once a month and in conjunction with other parents who have toddlers so they can play together while I help the school children.
3) Start Small while you work out what you can do and what you enjoy doing. It is better to start small, enjoy it and volunteer for more (if you can) than to experience volunteer overwhelm and never volunteer again.
Most of all; try to enjoy the experience that volunteering can provide for your family. Remember that it is better to speak up, ask questions or create an ideal volunteer solution rather than regretting it or not volunteer at all.
What tips do you have on how to make volunteering work for you?
This article was written by Lorraine Salvi; owner and Founder of MumsDelivery – providing solutions for Busy Mums. Lorraine is a Mum to 3 young children and a recent recruit to the joys of being a mum with school aged children.
