I have been wanting to volunteer somewhere for a while, but would like to involve Ethan if at all possible. It's way too difficult to fit in time without him, when I work 4 days a week already, but I can't think what would be suitable.

Has anyone pulled off such a feat? What did you do? How often? And for how long each time? (IYKWIM - an hour, a morning, a day??)

Thanks.

NN

ETA -- Ethan is almost 21 months - he'll be two in early August.

I did paper work for a charity at home. They emailed the documents to me to work on and I emailed the finished docs back. I did find it near impossible to do volunteer work with a child/ren as nobody wanted me! - which is why I ended up working from home.

There are OH & S issues I think. I managed it recently but it was kind of a flying under the radar kind of arrangement and it was an unspoken understanding that as far as paperwork, etc went the kids didn't exist so if anything had happened to them it was my responsibility IYKWIM.

Some nursing homes will welcome you with a child in tow if you are happy to visit with elderly people who may be lonely

3_for_me, I love that!!

There is a nursing home walking distance from here, it's quite large too. I'm sure they'd have lonely people who wouldn't mind a short visit from a 2 year old once a fortnight.

Maybe I'll just rock up next day off and ask.
Thanx.

Yeah my first thought would be a nursing home, the oldies would love a kid around to brighten their day!

Visiting a nursing home is a lovely idea.

I worked in one when I was at uni and it was heartbreaking to see residents who had received letters that their eyesight didn't allow them to read. But the staff were so busy that they didn't have time to read them.

Residents love children and they especially just love someone to chat to.

I don't know what the logistic are, but visiting a nursing home would be a great idea. And great for your little boy too.

I have done various things that might suit you and Ethan -either because you could take a child along with you or because they can be done from home/at night. Currently I compile an electronic newsletter for a health charity which is all done at night from home, and I also volunteer for a counselling hotline which I also do at night (if you can leave Ethan with your partner or someone else) so it doesn't interfere with my other responsibilities. They both take a couple of hours a week.

I also organise various charitable donation drives for goods needed by people in developing countries which can all be done from home - that fluctuates in terms of commitment, so some weeks I might spend ten minutes on it, other weeks five or six hours.

In the past I've telephoned an elderly person every day for the Red Cross (just checking they're OK - only takes a few minutes), and done social visits for people in nursing homes, people with significant disabilities and people with mental health issues. Taking along a kid could be very popular with some of those people who really need a visitor and just dote on children (obviously assuming it is a safe and appropriate environment for children).

Hope you find the right thing for you - good on you for deciding to do it.

Nursing home!!!

I took DD and then changed to after school so we could involve DS. It isn't as easy as rocking up and visiting. We had to join a volunteering company and then they organised with a nursing home near us. I finalised hours etc with nursing home direct.

We went to a music therapy group each week. DD loved to dance and prance in front of the oldies, DS loved to play the music instruments. The oldies just loved it but were concerned DD was cold in her dress up ballet clothes lol (mid summer Brisbane!!!!).

It was sad for DD (who was about 3-4) when her favourite lady died and DD was scared a bit at the beginning.

Love learning the old songs....

I tried to volunteer at several nursing homes. You would think that they would welcome children - but nooooo! I applied through a volunteer agency. But good luck with approaching them directly.

Really? that's sad the place I went through was so excited to have children.

There's a toy library up the road from me that asks for volunteers - I'd imagine they'd be ok with kids coming - and it would be most kids dream!

Thank you everyone.

I'll be looking into a few of these ides -- hopefully I can come up with one that involves Ethan directly. I'd love for him to grow up thinking that it's "normal" (for want of a better word) to do things for the less fortunate.

Hopefully he won'y hit 35 and suddenly realise he should be doing more.

I've done informal kind of volunteer work (running sewing workshops for Mums sewing nappies/pads, etc) with baby on my back (Ergo) or by my side.

There's also the kinds of options of tiny clothes/making tiny blankets for different parts of the hospital (SCN/neo-natal loss etc) but contact them first to see what is or isn't ok, specs for prem babies (ie re ties/cords etc)

Women's refuges (see what they might need doing/making)

Those kinds of things you can do from home but still help sort of thing.

Hope you find something you can offer that fits with you guys.

I (along with DD4 and DS2.5) volunteer as a driver for meals on wheels. We usually deliver about 5-9 meals and it takes an hour out of our day and we just do one day a week but we love it. Some people invite us in and we have a chat for a few minutes, some just greet us at the door and take the meal. It can be a bit of a pain getting the kids into and out of the car numerous times but generally we all really love it. The elderly people we're delivering to love to see the kids and the kids seem to enjoy it too (especially visiting the ones who give out lollies).