Preschool - Learning about Service to Others

One of my more important goals as a parent is to teach Crumpet about service to others. I want him to understand how blessed we are to have so much, and that it is our duty to help others who are not so fortunate. I've thought about this for years, but it took me a while to find just the right starting activity. It's hard to find a volunteer activity that is appropriate for young children, especially one as shy as Crumpet. I think I've done it though, and this week we began delivering for an organization which provides Meals on Wheels!
This is perfect because Crumpet doesn't have to interact too much with the seniors we deliver to until he gets to know them better. At the same, they get to see a young child, and that made everyone's day. Due to poor communication, we ended up delivering several routes instead of just one on our first day. It took a long time because we didn't know where all of the houses were. Through it all, Crumpet was a superstar. He never once complained, even though he climbed in and out of the car 18 times.
Fortunately/Unfortunately, our first delivery was to the friendliest woman we met all day. She was delighted to see Crumpet. And, she gave him a little McDonalds stuffed doggie as a present. This was good because Crumpet warmed up to her right away and decided he loved this volunteer stuff! He kept talking about how she was 'too kind'. However, he was a bit disappointed when no one else spoiled him with presents. It led us into a good discussion about the fact that many of these people can't afford meals, or don't have the ability to get to the store to buy food or presents, which is why we are visiting them. It gave Crumpet a lot to think about.
We will be doing this every week, and I'm excited to see how we progress.
In addition, we will be making 75 pb&j sandwiches and brownies next week for a 'feed the homeless keiki (Hawaiian for children)' program. I'm not sure how much Crumpet will be able to help, but it will be another chance for him to see the adults around him being active in the community. This is also the week we will pack our box for Operation Christmas Child, and I'm taking Crumpet shopping to help fill the box tomorrow.

In other news, we went camping at the beach with friends. Spending 24 hours in a small cabin with other kids was a really great chance to work on socialization skills! And of course, we got to do lots of nature study, and we got lots of exercise.
We tried out a peddle bike. This is hard work and it was really too bad the boys have such short legs - they couldn't help!
We got really really wet!
And we were treated to stunning views.
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