Find age-appropriate volunteer opportunities for your preteen

More and more, middle schools require students to perform community service each semester. Why not have your child do some over the summer? Kids typically have less to do than during the school year. It’s a great time to devote to helping others.

Here are some activities that are appropriate for your child’s age. Discuss these with her (or get her suggestions) and choose one according to her interests and abilities.

Your preteen can:

Be a counselor-in-training. She can help at a summer program for younger children.
Babysit for a family she knows that really needs help with child care. Consider doing it for free.
Conduct a food drive. She can ask neighbors, friends and family to donate canned food and deliver it to a shelter or food bank.
Record herself reading popular children’s books. Take the recordings to a children’s hospital wing.
Do yard work for a person who is elderly or has a disability.

Your teenager can:

Be a counselor at a summer program for younger children.
Be a mentor for a younger child or a preteen.
Tutor a child in math or reading over the summer. Do it for free.
Sign up to work for a campaign, if she is interested in supporting any of the candidates in this fall’s elections.
Read to older people at an assisted living center, or volunteer to go once a week and lead a game, such as bingo.

Focus on positive discipline for your middle schooler this summer

By middle school, your child will have learned to tune out negative discipline, such as yelling. And you have probably realized that it doesn’t work anyway.

This summer, when you may see more of your child, use positive discipline whenever possible. In return, you may see a positive change in your child by summer’s end.

Here’s how to get started:

Be generally pleasant to your child, even if she is not! Smile. Show affection—hug her if she is comfortable with it, pat her arm or shoulder if not.
Encourage your child to learn a new skill this summer. Cooking a meal is a great one to try. Thank her for doing it and mention that it helps the family.
Notice what your child does right and compliment her.
Say thank you when your child does something for you or the family. Say please when you ask her to do something.
Trust your child. If your child has been generally trustworthy, give her the benefit of the doubt. Believe what she says. Give her a new freedom if she has shown responsibility.
Ask your child for a lesson. There are probably things your child knows how to do better than you, especially when it comes to technology. Also ask her opinions on issues that matter to the family.