Helping Neighbors

The outdoors includes the street you live on and the people who live there. The 1913 book How Girls Can Help Their Country suggested tying a knot in your handkerchief each morning and untying it only after you'd helped someone. It's still a good trick for remembering to be kind.

Things to try

In any order, at your own pace. Tick what you've tried if you like keeping track; ticks stay on this device.

1. Take on a new job at homeChoose a new household job, such as setting the table, folding laundry, or feeding a pet, and do it every day for two weeks without being reminded. A good goal: the two weeks are up.
2. Try the helping knotFor one week, tie a loose knot in a bandana or string bracelet each morning and untie it only after you've done something kind for someone. Write down what you did. A good goal: you have seven kind deeds on your list.
3. Map your community helpersDraw a map of your neighborhood that shows where the library, fire station, post office, and other places that help people are. A good goal: you can tell what each place does.
4. Say thank youMake thank-you cards or drawings for people who help your community, such as a mail carrier, librarian, sanitation worker, or firefighter, and deliver them with a grown-up. A good goal: you've given at least three.
5. Lend a neighbor a handWith a parent's OK, help a neighbor by raking leaves, shoveling a walk, watering plants, or carrying groceries. A good goal: you've helped at least twice.
6. Collect for a good causeFind out what a local food pantry or animal shelter needs most, then collect those items from your family and friends and deliver them. A good goal: the donation is dropped off.
7. Plan a service projectPlan and lead a small project with your family, such as a park cleanup, a little free library or pantry box, or cards for a nursing home. Write down your plan, do it, and talk about how it went. A good goal: the project is finished.
8. Invite someone to helpTeach a friend or sibling one way to help in your neighborhood and do it together. A good goal: you've helped side by side.

Read about it in the old books

• 📖 How Girls Can Help Their Country: Helping Others ↗