August can be boring.  Swim team and lessons are done. Most day camps are over.  Lots of playmates and pals are out of town visiting beaches and grandmas.  Why is it that all year long we dream and long for summer, and then we get to August and start musing for those days when school begins and our routines resume?

At our house, we’re halting that August slump right in its tracks. And anyone who whines, “I’m boooored”  will be banned from ice cream truck privileges FAST.

Instead, we’ve declared August Do Good Month at the A Parent in Silver Spring household! We’re going to be doing good deeds and brainstorming ways even a six year old and a four year old, with the help of their parents, can make a difference.

My kids were inspired by the day we spent last month on July 14 as members of the Do Good Day Washington DC team, sponsored by American Eagle’s 77Kids. We drove downtown to the National Mall, parked ourselves right in front of the Smithsonian Museum of American History and met up with Mamma Loves, Justice Fergie of Mama Law, Parentopia Devra, GoonSquad Sarah, Scrappin’ Michele and their kids.  We were given a budget to make a difference and do some good, and since we were representing Washington, we thought that the Mall would be most iconic place to hand out some benevolent cheer. There we passed out crisp dollar bills with notes telling people how they can use that $1 for a good deed, water bottles, snacks, candy, umbrellas, t-shirts, goofy glasses and other cute items to make the visitors smile.

My kids, especially Charlie, LOVED it. He and Sarah’s kids even drew pictures for people.  Charlie’s always been into handing out free presents to randoms. I think it all started with catching candy at parades as a toddler and attending every church or temple mini-carnival in the county. Now he loves being a vendor – lemonade stands, church bazaars, yard sales – man, he lives for those days. Hey, he should work a booth at BlogHer next year! But I digress.

Eve just liked meeting other kids walking by with their parents. She was also pretty obsessed with playing with Stacey’s kids.

This nationwide event was organized by Emily and Cooper of The Motherhood. 11 bloggers in 7 cities nationwide all worked hard on July 14…making for 77 mom bloggers engaging their kids, and their communities.  Here in DC the local television news stations even came out to catch some video of us handing out goodies just for the heck of it, and Amie and Devra were both interviewed. (Gotta keep my old PR agency skillz in use once in a while, yo.)

Inspired, here are the activities Charlie, Eve and I will be/have been doing this August to keep out of trouble and show others the love:

• Deliver diapers to the Centro Tepeyac Women’s Center
• Make dinners together for friends who have recently had babies
• Hand out cold water bottles to people pan-handling at intersections (I worry about giving them cash if they’re addicts, but know they’re definitely in need!)
• Make a video for Grandma letting her know we miss her and telling her some new jokes
• Invite some of the kids of friends over for day-long playdates to give their moms a break
• Design some special cards for Granny and Granddad who had surgery this summer
• Shop for wacky t-shirts for Grandpa and YiaYia at the beach for their collection
• Visit our great-aunt who no longer travels herself
• Give Charlie’s too-small school uniforms to friends with boys going into the grade below
• Go through the plastic bins of baby clothes (saved in the hopes of more babies but just sitting there, taunting me!) for outfits to send to our new TEN POUNDS AT BIRTH baby nephew
• Finally, actually head to the P.O. to send family members those personal items that they’ve left here from their travels
• Drive out to the wilds of Virginia to save a friend from four tow-headed men.

Side-note and unpaid plug: Designer Kristen of the hilarious Baby Brewing tee shirts that you guys see me wearing all around town, is THE BEST example of altruism JUST BECAUSE. She hired Wafels & Dinges – the best food truck in America according to TLC – for BlogHer attendees to get their late-night snack on!! She didn’t promote her biz, she just did it. She’s a do-gooder of the nth power.  But even though she’s too modest to shill her shirts, I’ll do it for her. Come on, don’t you want to cruise around wearing a Mommy Needs a Cocktail top at 8am on a Monday morning too? It’s punk rock playdate wear.

• Share a comped hotel room with some pals because it’s more fun that way!
• Deliver the school supply items the teachers’ have requested before school starts, to keep them from digging into their pockets before the first paycheck
• Give the teens in the neighborhood rides when they’re walking to the local pool in 100 degree heat (“Mommy, does this count as picking up a hitch hiker?”)
• Let the families behind us at the mini-golf place jump ahead of us in line – why rush?
• Give some good conference swag to my girlfriends who can really use a girly pick-me-up
• Write snail-mail thank you letters, not emails, to my fellow volunteers and the administrative staff at the kids’ camps
• Plan a really rocking family bday party for Daddy
• Pay the tolls for the cars in back of us when driving to the beach, just for the heck of it
• Give a dress in my closet to a friend because it looks waaaaay better on her than on me
• Send my grandmother/the kids’ great-grandmother a bundle of her favorite flower, red carnations, just because
• Let the very un-caffeinated lady at Dunkin’ Donuts go ahead of us this morning (been there!)
• Throw a “half-sleepover” movie night for the neighbors’ kids so they can finally go out for their anniversary

I know, none of these items will earn us Nobel Peace Prizes or UNICEF ambassadorships. You guys probably do stuff like this already, every freaking day. But isn’t it important to make a conscious effort to do unto otters as much as possible when you’ve got young children?

And since I’m always thinking about fun stuff to do with the kids, I’ve realized that the numero uno thing children LOVE to do are simple activities that make others smile. But I’m no Pollyanna, it’s also good for me too: Every minute we’re paying it forward or helping a pal out, I tend to not have to PAY anything or very much cash for summer fun. But once we get off the charitable path, out comes the well-worn Visa card.

Funny how we can personally benefit from selfless acts, huh?

Get inspired here by more ideas on how you and your kids can Do Good!

Disclosure: I was paid by American Eagle 77 kids for my participation in the Do Good Kids Day campaign. I was not “required” to write about my involvement. I would have done it for free, but it was nice to have the incidentals like parking and lunch covered and time away from work acknowledged.  It was an assignment of pure joy having our children included in the good deed campaign – I LOVED that aspect!  We had so much fun working together.

Thank you Amie, Cooper and Emily for recruiting Charlie, Eve and me for the team!