How To Make The Most Of A Childcare Volunteering Program?
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Don’t you wish you had a chance to re-live your childhood? Well, then there is something you’d certainly not want to miss reading. Childcare volunteering program is a project dedicated to the welfare and development of underserved children. No matter whether you choose to work with the little ones in Nepal or in Kenya, or maybe in Peru – you’ll surely get a chance to touch their lives in the most amazing manner that you can’t even imagine!
What looks like a “child’s play” actually requires a lot of preparation and flexibility. Many volunteers, in the past, who have worked for children under this program, faced difficulties and were perplexed about the approach that would help with the program. You need a lot of patience to deal with them, and there would be situations where you need to be calm and strong.
And it is for this reason, that we have listed down some of the best things to keep in mind and make the most of your time while volunteering for a childcare program.
1# Go back to being a kid yourself.
One of the first, and foremost, things you can do to make your volunteer work smooth and successful, is to win the trust and attention of the kids at the placement. And, in order to do that, you’ll have to bring out the child in you. Try to tune yourself as a kid when you’re with them, and you’ll soon figure out that seeing someone doing the same thing, the kids will automatically gel along well with you. Also, you’ll find that it’s not a difficult task to go back to your childhood, as long as the child in you is alive 🙂
2# Be more than just a volunteer to the kids – try to be their family!
The kids don’t really understand the meaning of ‘volunteer’ and for them, you’re a person to be loved. These kids are unfortunate to not have a family and you can actually become one for them. You can be their sister or mother for those few days, showering them with utmost love and care, that they deserve. You can be a mentor for them, guiding them about the basics of living a healthy life. You can be a teacher to them, and help them to create a better future for themselves.
3# Take initiatives in doing other tasks at the placement.
The prime objective under volunteering for children program is to take care of underprivileged kids and provide them with much-needed care and love. However, as a volunteer, one must try not to restrict the work to just that. A dedicated volunteer would always dig in more and try to provide help and support in all possible ways. One of it could be helping out with the administrative work. Involve yourself and put your skills to the best of the work by helping the local staff with operational works; as and when required. Alternatively, you can inquire about the things that are scarce at the center and can buy that for them. Other than that, you can also share a hand in doing the daily chores, like cooking lunch for the kids, washing the clothes and drying them, arranging the things at home etc. Most of the childcare centers have a shortage of staff and thus, you can definitely get your hands in doing some extra work.
4# Innovate your methods of educating.
Doing volunteer work for children will require some really out of the box approach! One of the many tasks under this project is providing education to the kids at the placement. Education does not necessarily have to be elementary. As an international volunteer, you can choose a multi-dimensional approach to teach the children. It could be a day trip to the children’s park where you can teach them about the importance of nature and how we can do our bit to preserve it. You can also show them learning videos on YouTube, as the visuals create a deeper impact on a child’s mind. (I showed videos about the Solar System to the kids while volunteering in Kenya, and trust me, in 2 days they learned the names of all the planets!) You can adapt some activity based teaching method, and keep them engaged in it.
5# Share real-life stories to motivate the kids.
Remember your childhood when your granny use to tell stories and you would just listen to them for hours? Every child has the same habit. Nothing’s more motivating and inspirational than real-life stories. In fact, knowing that there is a foreigner between us, the kids would be more than excited to know the stories from the other side of the world. You can tell them about your country, about the places you’ve traveled to, about some interesting encounter you’ve had etc. Not only would this help you create a stronger bond with the children, but will also provide knowledge and expand the information bank for the kids. Make sure that you’ve enough stories in your bag so that you don’t run out of it when the kids ask for more!!
6# Learn the tricks that’ll help in making a strong bond.
While sharing stories and playing games are certainly some of the best adhesives to create a stronger bond with the kids at the project, there are a lot more ways to accomplish the same. While interacting with the children at the center, volunteers can learn about the children’s likes and dislikes, their favorite movie stars, the food they crave the most, the cartoon they admire, and so on. All this information can come really handy in the process of bonding well with the kids. Someday, you can take some candies for them or maybe some fruits (I figured out that the kids love bananas, while I was there in Kenya) and they’ll soon be fond of you – see, a little bribing is never harmful!
Volunteering Solutions offer some really meaningful, safe and affordable volunteer opportunities under this project; in different parts of the world. So you think you are ready to take up the challenge? Then wait no more and register for the childcare volunteering program today. Contact [email protected] for more details and registration process.
Get set to re-live your childhood!
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