The Pros and Cons of Volunteering for Teens

One of the best ways for teens to make friends, help the community, and gain valuable life experience is by volunteering. Not only is it a great experience for them, but it looks great on college and job applications.

There are both pros and surprisingly cons to teen volunteers. Granted, there are many more pros than cons. Depending on the teen, volunteering can teach teens and even their families more about life than they ever imagined. With all the opportunities available, every teen can find something they enjoy.

Pros for volunteering are easy to find. In fact, it's hard to find anything but pros when looking at how much volunteering benefits a teen, both now and in the future.

~Self-Esteem

Volunteering gives a teen a feeling of satisfaction at giving back to their community. For every good deed they do, their self-esteem and confidence grows. Just seeing the smile on someone's face makes a teen glad they were able to help out. This helps their relationships with friends and family as well.

~Reality Check

Teens tend to be a bit selfish. Volunteering gives them a reality check. Life isn't always about them. Teens also seem to think the least little thing is a major catastrophe. Volunteering at a soup kitchen or nursing home gives them a look inside serious problems. Seeing that their life is actually quite good, teaches teens to respect others and be grateful for what they have.

~Responsibility

People complain that teens are irresponsible. Volunteering teaches a teen responsibility. When volunteering, you try to make something better. A teen can see exactly how grateful others are for the help. This teaches them to be responsible and work hard.

~Choose a Profession

Volunteering can help a teen decide what they want to do with their life. Helping out at a hospital may help a teen realize they want to be a doctor or nurse. Working with adults who never learned to read may guide a teen to be a teacher. At the same time, volunteering may help a teen decide what they don't want to be.

Cons are a little hard to uncover. However, there are a few cons to teens volunteering. These shouldn't prevent teens from trying at least one fun and interesting volunteer opportunity once during their high school years.

~Taking On Too Much

The biggest con to volunteering is that teens may over do it. Teens may tend to take on too much at once. Adding multiple volunteer hours to school, sports, and possibly even work may be too much for a teen to successfully handle. Parents and friends must help teens to learn to say "no" to over extending themselves.

~Right Reasons

Another con is volunteering for the wrong reasons. College applications may make a teen feel they must volunteer. However, if a teen doesn't really want to volunteer, they may not enjoy the experience and may do a bad job. Successful volunteering comes from the desire to truly help out in your community.

Volunteering can be a great experience and teens and adults both should try to make time for at least a few hours here and there. Teens can learn valuable life lessons that will help them to become better adults. After all, a generation that loves to volunteer and be an active part of the community would benefit everyone.