Take the Summer of Service Challenge This Week by Including Others!

by Jyl Johnson Pattee on August 2nd, 2009 | 5 Comments »

Summer-of-Service-Challenge_Week-10_Crayola_Be-Inclusive 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.

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Jyl Johnson Pattee

An active part of the Mom It Forward team, Jyl primarily writes about parenting, social good, and all things travel related. In a past life, Jyl was an award-winning copywriter and designer of corporate training programs for Fortune 100 companies. Offline, Jyl is married to @TroyPattee; a mom to two teen boys and a beagle named #Hashtag; loves large amounts of cheese, dancing, and traveling; and lives in the beautiful Rocky Mountains. Topping her bucket list is the goal to visit 50 countries by the time she's 50.