Take the Summer of Service Challenge This Week by Including Others!
10 Ways to Include Others This Week
Feeling included is a great feeling. Walking into a room—whether it be at an event, an activity, a conference, church, a school function, or otherwise—and not knowing a single soul in the room can be difficult. What a difference it makes when, in that same situation, someone extends the hand of friendship, reaches out and introduces themselves to you, takes up that empty seat next to you, starts a conversation, and helps you feel welcome. Taking a step outside of our comfort zones to help someone else feel included and a part of things is an amazing act of service. It is also an important skill and characteristic to teach our children, especially as they transition from summer activities to back to school, where they will meet new kids, join sports teams, etc.
You can take this week’s Summer of Service challenge, sponsored by Crayola, by doing one of the following things. If you have more ideas for including others, please share them in the comments!
- Invite someone new to an event you’ll be attending soon—a book club, scrapbooking club, school meeting, play group, a church activity, a professional club or organization, etc.
- When you attend an event, look around for someone who is sitting by themselves and sit next to them and introduce yourself to them.
- Invite someone you have recently met, but don’t know well, to lunch just to get to know him or her.
- Plan a girl’s night out activity with your friends and encourage everyone to bring someone new.
- Invite a family in your neighborhood or from your children’s school over for dinner.
- Write a thank-you note to someone who has made an impact on your life recently, but who you don’t know well.
- Identify five people you’d like to get to know better and determine what you will do this week to take steps toward doing that.
- Role play with your children the act of including others at school—inviting them to their lunch table, including them on their sports team, playing with them at recess, etc.
- Have a date night with your husband and invite another couple you haven’t done something with before.
- When your friends are successful in their endeavors, pour on the compliments and share the love publicly. A little affirmation and abundance thinking goes a long way to strengthen friendships!
How Will You Give to Others This Week?
What other ideas do you have for including others this week?- What are things that get in the way of including others?
- What are ways to overcome these challenges?
- How has including others made a meaningful difference this week for you? For others?
How Else Can You Make a Difference This Summer?
Make a meaningful difference this summer by taking the Summer of Service (SOS) Challenge. Here’s how you can participate:
- Commit to do one act of kindness/service based on the week’s challenge.
- Leave a comment with ideas relating to the week’s challenge as well as your experience(s) performing it.
- Grab the SOS button in the sidebar and put it on your blog or social networking site.
- Enter to win each week’s giveaway. Check out this week’s prize from Crayola.
- Join #gno this Tuesday on Twitter to connect with other Mom It Forward moms about the challenge.
Comments
5 Responses to “Take the Summer of Service Challenge This Week by Including Others!”
Leave a Reply
Nicole on August 2, 2009 6:06 pm
What a great idea! Just this week I was invited by a friend to attend a local scrapbooking event…and in return, I invited a new mom in town to the event with me so she oculd mingle and mix with other moms in the area – we were both blessed by the company, fun and meeting new people!
ncpnkr@aol.com
jyl johnson pattee on August 2, 2009 6:06 pm
Thanks for sharing this, Nicole! I love how the act of including you sparked an interest in you to include others. Contagious, isn’t it? I love it!
Tricia @Night Owl Mama on August 4, 2009 8:08 pm
we have a girls night out activity planned so much needed for me and 4 or my friends bringing along my cousin who never gets out Should be loads of fun .Thanks for the great tips love it
Ashley Walkup on August 4, 2009 8:08 pm
Thanks for this! This was a wonderful idea and I’m very excited about it.
vigrx on August 30, 2009 12:12 pm
Very neighbourly transmit but there are some point where I wish not agree. But all-inclusive its completely good.