I’ve been giving more thought to LittleGood.org, the community service project idea I put out to the interwebz last month. It revolves around making it easy for people to make community service a regular habit. The idea: A little good (a few times a year) goes a long way.
As I thought about it more, I thought of an additional motivator to get parenting age adults like myself involved and over the hump of their busy lives: make it a teaching moment for their children. (queue the Guiness spokes-characters: BRILLIANT!)
When I was doing service projects on my own, often times the best groups to get involved with were religious organizations like community churches. You would go and see a bunch of eager young adults there, kids in tow, helping teach the next generation about the importance of giving back. The vibe was awesome, but where it left me feeling lacking is I really didn’t want to be involved with the church. (This is not a religious condemnation in any way. I use these groups as examples of something done very right. Personally, I practice complete religious tolerance. You can practice whatever you want, as long as you teach love and being good to others.)
I didn’t want to be involved with the church for the same reason that I didn’t want to devote all of my time to any one single cause. Furthermore, I got the sense that some of the parents were there, not because they were necessarily devout to their faith, but because they also sought a means to give back with their children, and communities like this are one way of doing that.
The point of my story is this: what if we gave parents that were more agnostic in their religious beliefs, an opportunity to enjoy those same teaching moments with their children without having to join a church? So, along with launching LittleGood.org (as soon as I can get the logistics squared away) I present to you the #TYKS initiative. TYKS is a fancy acronym for Teach Your Kids Service and a catchy little way to capture the minds, hearts, and interest of young parents (whom I think represent a powerful force for good – who else can do so much on so little sleep?)
More on LittleGood.org and #TYKS to come…