giving back

Problem Solving: 10 Tips to Being Proactive

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Season of Service logo #35: Guard Protection—This week, we challenge you to serve by guarding. In other words, we encourage you to think of simple ways to help guard against various problems by taking proactive steps. This challenge is inspired by one of this week's #gno sponsors, American Express, whose new prepaid cards help people guard against overspending. Try one or two of these bite-size ideas:

Ten Bite-Size Ways to Serve by Guarding:

  1. Check out GreenerChoices.org to find out where you can recycle your old TV's, computers, or cell phones, thus guarding our planet against further junk-ification.
  2. Gather any unused baby or children's items you might have, clean them, and list them for free on sites like CraigsList or KSL.com.
  3. Buy an anti-tip furniture-to-wall connector like this one next time you're at Walmart, and attach it to a piece of furniture in your toddler's room, guarding against the possibility of him or her climbing up on it, causing it to fall over and do harm.
  4. "Like" Watch D.O.G.S. (Dads of Great Students) on Facebook. Watch D.O.G.S. is a nonprofit organization that helps fathers guard their children's school by becoming more involved.
  5. Learn how to detect if someone is being abused, either by someone they're dating, married to, or talking with online, by going to Break The Cycle, to guard against someone you know being harmed by an abuser.
  6. Teach your children about how to act around someone with a disability by visiting sites like LoveThatMax, PrayingForParker, or RedNeckMommy, to guard against them developing a fear of being around a disabled child.
  7. Draft ideas for positive rewards for your children's good behavior that don't involve candy or food, to guard against the possible development of diabetes or obesity.
  8. Email a math and science activity booklet link to any friends you may have that are parents or teachers of middle school girls, to guard against them losing interest in those areas of study. The Girl Scouts of America offers a downloadable activity guide for middle school girls called Mix it Up.
  9. Donate eyeglasses you no longer use to New Eyes for the Needy, to distribute to the visually-impaired poor in developing nations, to help guard against them not being able to work.
  10. Have your teen driver spend some time on TeenDriverSource to guard against the possibility of them driving recklessly.

How Will You Give to Others This Week?

  • What other ideas do you have for giving to others by guarding?
  • How has guarding made a meaningful difference for you this week?
  • How have others given to you this week and what difference has that made in your life?

How Else Can You Make a Difference This Season?

Make a meaningful difference this season by taking the Season 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.
  • Enter to win each week's giveaway. Check out this week's prizes from McDonald's, Toshiba, and American Express.
  • Join #gno this week on Twitter to connect with other Mom It Forward moms about the challenge.
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