During the formative years of childhood, your community offers kids a tangible source for their minds to begin grasping their connection to the world. If kids aren’t shown what it looks like to care for others outside of their family, why would we expect them to become adults that care for others? As key figures in kiddos' lives, grownups have the responsibility to model what it looks like to care for our communities and involve children in our efforts. We're all connected to each other and it’s in our collective best interest to support one another.
What is community care?
Community care involves showing up for your community in a way that centers the collective needs of the community. In applying this approach, community members are mindful of how their well-being is inherently connected to the well-being of others, including their wider community at large. Practicing community care can look like building and deepening connections with fellow residents, addressing communal issues with intentionality, and mobilizing community members to support each other.¹
Overview of Ideas
How do you prioritize raising a kid with moral values?
✨ Offer Mutual Aid
Mutual aid is when community members supply physical goods such as food, clothing, or other donations to fellow community members. Sometimes mutual aid can take the form of physical labor without the expectation or exchange of money (think: shoveling snow or mowing a lawn, or babysitting for a neighbor). In a recent episode of the Minimalist Moms podcast, Zachariah Thompson of the Scatter Joy Project explained mutual aid as sitting at the intersections of gratitude and giving. Zach shared, “I'm grateful for what I have, but I'm also grateful for what I can give.”
🧃 Stock a local community fridge or pantry closet.
Communities across the world have begun recognizing residents’ ability to support one another. One impactful way to do so is through supplying mutual aid via community fridges. In case you’re unfamiliar, community fridges are exactly what the name implies– outdoor refrigerators stocked by members of your community. All food placed inside the fridge is free and open for anyone to access 24/7.
Not only do community fridges address food insecurity and decrease food waste, but they can also act as an invaluable resource for communities that live in food deserts.
Here are a few ways to go about getting kiddos involved with stocking your local community fridge:
Option 1: Bring your kiddo grocery shopping with you. You can say something like,“We’re going to go on a special shopping trip to buy some food for other kids and families that might not have as much as us.”
Option 2: Have a kid help you gather leftovers, make sandwiches, help cook a meal, or help stick labels and dates on home cooked food.
Option 3: If you happen to know of a fruit tree close by that produces an overabundance of fruit, have your kiddo help you gather up disregarded fruit.
Option 4: Plant a small garden with a little one and collect its harvests.
After you’ve identified a source that works for you and your family, have your child assist you with placing the food in the community fridge or closet pantry. Check to see if you have a community fridge near you using Freedge’s locator– with 300+ locations in the USA alone, it’s quite likely you do!
Teaches Kids: selflessness, humility, compassion
📙 Add children’s books to a Little Free Library
I don’t know about you, but I’ve been delighted to watch Little Free Libraries sprout up everywhere. Actually, it's not just me— according to their website, 98% of people say their neighborhood feels like a friendlier place because of a Little Free Library! The nonprofit's mission is to build community, inspire readers, and increase access to books for all.
Unfortunately, it’s rare to see quality children’s board books in these libraries, perhaps you and your kiddo can contribute a few baby board books they’ve outgrown.
Before passing away, Todd Bol, the original founder of Little Free Library, shared this short, yet inspiring message, "I believe people can fix their neighborhoods, fix their communities, develop systems of sharing, learn from each other, and see that they have a better place on this planet to live."
You can help sustain Bol's mega-popular system of sharing by locating and donating to a Little Free Library near you!
Teaches: minimalism (how to let go of stuff); generosity; sharing
✨ Engage Kids in Communal Relationship Building Activities
On your journey to raising a caring global citizen, you might find it helpful to focus on building communal relationships. You might already be doing this! Involving kiddos in community events, initiatives, and playdates can provide them with core social interactions needed to build trust, collaboration, agency, and problem-solving skills.
🌭 Attend a Local Block Club Event
Outdoor block club events are popular throughout the summer and fall and often feature barbecues. The yummy food is sure to attract many families from your neighborhood and create a perfect environment for kids to engage in mixed age play.
These gatherings can also lead to opportunities for kids to give their input on changes they want to see in their community. For example, preschool kids might point out the need for a non-metal slide that doesn’t burn when they slide down it on hot days. While this may sound like a trivial request to adults, getting a better slide would offer a safer play space for kids and could increase the community’s overall usage of the playground and build stronger relations amongst families.
By participating in discussions about their community's needs and expressing their own ideas for improvements, kids can be granted a smidge of control and influence over their environment. This participation reinforces the stance that kids' opinions matter and they can make a difference, which is a crucial aspect of developing personal agency.
Teaches: communication skills; collaboration; empathy; agency
🌱 Participate in a community garden
A cool part of joining a community garden is that you can meet families that live beyond your 2-3 block bubble but are still part of your community. Gardening does require little ones to engage in some physical labor. However, there’s still a ton of time for mixed age play with other kids, bubbles, and regular games of “let’s go look for butterflies!”
In college, I worked with kids and families at a low-income housing facility. During the summer, a local bus service drove us to the community garden. While we did require kids 8 and under to be accompanied by a guardian, kids of all ages loved attending the garden (as long as they could walk). Time after time, they were amazed to witness the full growth cycle of produce from start to finish. Gardening is a good opportunity for kiddos to, quite literally, get their hands dirty. Kids have innate energy that makes them excellent weeders and waterers.
Although they’re not necessarily advertised as such, being part of a community garden is also a way to get free organic food (sorta free, excluding your time and labor). Not to mention that the produce flat out tastes better without the pesticides.
Compost Solution with Less Onus: The summer program I helped run also offered free lunches to kids. We used a classic bucket with a good lid to encourage kids to compost waste from their lunches. You’d be surprised how quickly even 4 and 5 year-olds catch on to what can be composted and what can’t be. Each week we carried the compost bucket to the garden with us and added the waste into the garden’s big compost pile.
Contributing our waste to the community garden’s compost collection was a lot easier for us to commit to as college students. If your city doesn’t offer compost collection or if you aren’t interested in turning or maintaining your compost, taking it to a community garden can be a convenient solution.
Teaches: work ethic, appreciation for nature, where food comes from
🛝 Schedule playdates with kids in the neighborhood
Get to know neighbors better by establishing playdates with kids nearby– even if they only happen once every few months. Kids socialize and make friends through play. There’s always a chance that the kids don’t hit it off and become besties, but that’s okay. It’s important for kids to learn how to play with kids that are different from them, including different interests and personalities. Neighborly playdates also allow kids to familiarize themselves with their peers, while creating scenarios where they are required to experiment with trust. Suddenly they find themselves having to make decisions about which toys they trust their new friend to hold or play with. It’s not uncommon for the child hosting the playdate to get vocally possessive of their toys and be hesitant to share. It can be instinctive to want to intervene and demand, “Charlie, you need to share your toys.” After sittervising many of these playdates, I’ve started to stay out of it— the hosting child quickly learns that if they don’t share their toys, their friend won’t have any tools to engage in their play scenario.
Tip: If you find yourself putting off playdates because you’d have to first find time to clean the house, simply opt to have the playdate at your local park. Toys and play equipment are awesome resources that elevate play, but kids don’t need them to build trust or relationships with the kids around their neighborhood. All they need is their energy, open space to play, and non-hovering sittervisors.
Teaches: trust; problem solving; conflict resolution
✨ Support Your Local Economy
Supporting your local economy is a powerful way to contribute to the sustainability of your community. When you bring your little one with you to local shops or even attend free events, you're showing them the value of community-led initiatives.
📚 Become a regular at the library.
Libraries are incredible free resources for things of all sorts. As public spaces, libraries are one of a few indoor places anyone can hangout in without being expected to spend money. One staff member from a library in Illinois sums it up nicely, “libraries have evolved to be so much more than silent spaces filled with books; they are now vibrant community hubs where people can come to explore new things, learn valuable skills, and connect with each other (in addition to checking out books, equipment, and more).” ²
As alluded to, libraries are great for free public events! Showing up to these events shows interest in the activities being offered or topics discussed. In order for libraries to continue offering events, good crowd turnouts are super important– that’s where you and your little one come in! Here are just a few activities the libraries in my area are offering for kids over the next month: Baby Toddler Storytime; Kid’s Yoga; Books for Barks (kids ages 5-12 practice their reading skills on therapy dogs); Movie Showings; LEGO Club; Art & Crafts; Teen Crafting.
Expand Your Community: Lots of public libraries offer free resources for refugees, migrants, entrepreneurs, ESL (English as a Second Language) learners, individuals seeking employment, and for individuals that are unhoused. Due to the wide array of use cases, libraries tend to attract diverse visitors. Cool, but how does that relate to my kid?
If you live in an area of a predominant race, ethnicity, or culture, try taking trips to a public library versus your local library branch. Doing so can expose kiddos to community members from different backgrounds. It’s common for public libraries to have playspaces for kids– perhaps your kid will meet a new play buddy that looks different from them or that doesn’t speak english! How would they play together if they don’t speak the same language? Trust me, they figure it out and it’s amazing to observe.
Find a convenient directory of public libraries in your state here.
Personal Insights: Like many millennial adults, I’ve developed a mild obsession with children’s books- a rather pricey obsession (I’m trying to be mindful of supporting local bookstores). In order to continue shopping at local bookstores, I’ve started to check for books at libraries first. Then I read/test them out with kids and I purchase the ones that elicit the best responses and discussions. This process allows me to support authors, libraries, and local bookstores. You can try doing the same thing at home! I’ll throw in a quick reminder that the library also offers free DVD rentals. No DVD player? DVDs can be played on a variety of Xbox and PlayStation consoles. One more shameless plug, if you haven’t heard of the library app, Libby, it is a must-have.
Teaches: relationship building; resourcefulness; cultural awareness
🛍️ Shop at local businesses
We’ve all heard the saying, “think global, act local.” As a modern day parent or caregiver, it’s difficult to exclusively live by this motto, especially with the conveniences of Target and Amazon. And it’s no secret that the price points of products at small businesses are much higher than products at big box retailers. It’s totally understandable that you might not always have the budget to shop local, but try to fit it in when possible.
Bonus points if you stumble upon a business that’s owned by a community member or staffed by workers in your neighborhood. Toddlers are shocked and excited to see familiar faces working at a store. Through seeing people they recognize, kids can begin unconsciously observing the interconnectedness of their community and the significance of supporting local jobs and businesses.
Where to Start: Independent toy stores are magical experiences for kids and they carry toys you can't find at big box stores. Also, staff members are always close by to answer any questions about toys or assist you in finding the perfect gift for a kid! The same goes for independent bookstores!
🧸 Find an independent toy store near you! 📚 Find an independent bookstore near you!
Teaches: interconnectedness
✨ Model Civic Engagement
Introducing kids to civic engagement begins with showing them how seemingly small actions can make an impact within their community and beyond. When you bring a little one to the polling station, you’re modeling the essence of participation and the value of having a voice in society. Witnessing civic duty in action can deepen a child's perception of community involvement and open their eyes to the responsibilities that come with it.
🗳️ Participate in local, state, and national elections and bring your kid with you.
Although toddlers may be too young to learn about the nitty gritty of politics, simply bringing them with you to vote can be a powerful lesson in what it looks like to show up for your community.
As a kid, my parents always took me and my siblings to the polling stations. This was back when grownups voted using machine levers and there were only 2-3 of these voting machines per location. Election after election, our polling place was filled with lines out the door, I’m talking amusement park style lines with 45 min waits. Time went by faster when we ran into a kind neighbor or relative that would casually give up their better spot in line to chat and wait with us farther back. When it was finally our turn to go behind the curtain, I would feel so overwhelmed from looking at the awfully confusing machine. The commitment of the grownups wasn’t lost on me… not only did they tolerate the longest lines, but they even put up with using a super confusing machine just to give their opinion! Sure, I was too young to understand the significance of voting, but in observing my community’s commitment to civic engagement, I learned the importance of civic duty.
There’s a high chance that poll workers will reward your kiddo with an “I Voted” sticker. These are probably the most valuable stickers kids will ever receive. When caught wearing an “I Voted” sticker, strangers give little ones the warmest smiles and if you stop by a grocery store, sometimes cashiers reward them with a piece of candy at the checkout. In sixth grade, my Social Studies teacher gave us extra credit for going to vote with our parents. We were required to show her our sticker as proof— I wasn’t exaggerating when I said these are the most valuable stickers throughout childhood.
Teaches: patience, civic engagement
References
¹ Community Care. (n.d.). Mental Health America. Retrieved May 20, 2024, from http://www.mhanational.org/bipoc-mental-health/community-care
² Glimco, E. (2022, March). 5 Ways Libraries Bring Value to Communities. Addison Public Library. https://www.addisonlibrary.org/5-ways-libraries-bring-value-communities
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