Roll Models

photo: Oli Oldham cc

As we nibble our way toward the full-on Season of Eating, I just had to give a quick shout-out to those incredible MasterChef Junior contestants for inspiring other kids to try new foods. This would be accomplishment enough, but chances are they've inspired many peers to pick up a whisk as well. Here's to many more passionate kid cooks in the new year!

Holiday Plans

photo: US Embassy Sweden, cc

With frost on the proverbial pumpkin not far away, it's a good time to think about ways children and teens can embrace the upcoming season of gratitude & giving. Three easy ways to put a kids-helping-kids spin on this time of year:

• Take your child(ren) shopping for a child in need, then to drop the gift at a collection site for Toys for Tots, a church's or other organization's wish tree, etc. Even more meaningful if kids contribute toward the gift from their allowance or savings and (if instructed to do so by the collection site) help wrap the gift. 
• If your family does its charitable giving around the holidays, have your child(ren) select a children's charity to donate to this year.
• Have your child(ren) pick out a family holiday card this year that features art by kids to benefit kids. Check out the annual Kids Helping Kids holiday card line from MAC Cosmetics, with art done by and for HIV/AIDS affected kids. Featuring art done by and for young cancer patients, this line of holiday cards from the M.D. Anderson Center Children's Art Project helps fund college scholarships to prepare for life after cancer. And don't miss our family shop's offerings, KKG winter holiday (stamps too!) featuring kids' art & benefitting Save the Children.

Party Heart-y

cc photo: woodleywonderworks

It never ceases to amaze, the pricetag attached to a few pieces of colorful synthetic fabric once they're packaged as a Halloween costume. For middle class or more comfortable families, this price gouging is an annoyance; for lower incomes it's a real impediment. Yes, homemade costumes can save money, but they're not always feasible for busy working parents of kids too young to put together their own ensembles.

One easy way for kids to help kids this Halloween might be a costume drive -- like the urban-suburban clothing drive our local school district runs every year, but specifically focused on gently used Halloween costumes kids have already worn and are unlikely to use again. A whole school or district could undertake such a collection without too much trouble, passing on donations quickly to a higher-need school in the area. Or this could be a great charitable component for a class Halloween party. Kids would simply need to bring in their old costume(s) the day of the party.

Untie the Knot

(photo credit eivindw via photopin cc)

How young is too young for marriage? 21? 18? Certainly most would agree that 12 is way, way too young. Yet it's not all that rare for a preteen or early teen girl to be forced into marriage in Malawi, where nearly half of all girls in Malawi are wed by 18, and less than quarter finish elementary school.

Far away in Chicago's north suburbs, teen girl basketball players from the elite Full Package team decided to do their part to chip away at the situation, setting a fundraising goal of $30,000 to fight teen marriage in Malawi through the UN's GirlUp program. For a quick but personal look at the problem and how teens--and others--can be part of the solution, check out this video.

Tutoring Without Tears

image: earl53

Parent tears, that is. With the cost of a professional tutor ranging in most areas from $30 to $100 an hour, getting help for a struggling young student can be financially painful -- as well as logistically challenging, if you need to get your kid to the tutor's office. Instead, try pairing your child with an older student who can help with homework in your home and won't charge an arm & a leg. Bright, patient high schoolers can be a perfect match for K through 8th graders, while college students can make great helpers and role models for high schoolers. Teen and young-adult students may not have the specialized expertise of a hardcore pro tutor, but they can ease HW anxiety at a much more modest price, usually $15-$25 an hour. Because they're fresher from the experience of whatever grade your kid is in, they can be more empathetic too, which goes a long way. And with college costs skyrocketing, employing students is a truly win-win kids-helping-kids arrangement.

Seniority

(photo: phi1317  cc)

Next month my twins start freshman year at a massive (4,000+) high school. Nervous? Probably me more than them. Something that helps, based on my older son's experience, is the school's student advisory program, which pairs each group of 25 or so teens with a teacher who can guide them through the transition to high school. They meet every day with that teacher, but the secret weapon is an upperclassman -- a "senior helper" -- who comes in regularly to answer the newbies' questions based on personal knowledge of the school's challenges and opportunities.

Another way to go is linking each freshman or new-to-the-district student with a peer mentor who can show them the ropes. DoSomething has some nice tips for taking this on as a leadership program.

Brothers & Sisters

photo: Holly Lawrence

With summer comes more together time for kids, even my 3 busy teens. I get to see the (mostly) good and (occasional) bad & ugly of this on a daily basis, but one thing that strikes me is how seeing sibling closeness in action becomes even more powerful and gratifying as they--and I-- get older and they inch ever closer to independent adult life. Because we can't live forever, knowing our kids will be there for each other is at the top of a parent's wish list, or at least mine. Some of this is out of our control (see that "independent life" part), but the basic patterns of caring for each other can be nurtured in sibs, starting very young. Here's a nice post from vlogger/social media consultant Danielle Smith on how she uses one key question to nudge her kids into respecting, protecting & encouraging each other: "Am I being kind?"