Why Service Hours Should Really Count for Teens This Season of Giving

Every year around this time, I notice the same quiet tension settling into many households with high schoolers. It usually starts with a simple question that quickly snowballs into stress. How many service hours does my child need this year?

In the race to stand out, teens often get stuck focusing on accumulating a specific number of service hours for high school. Parents start tracking spreadsheets, texting group chats, searching for last minute opportunities, and sometimes even stepping in to help their child secure volunteer hours. What begins as a well intentioned effort to support our children can slowly turn into pressure, frustration, and a feeling that service has become one more box to check.

What always stands out to me is not the lack of effort. There is so much energy behind this pursuit. What feels missing is alignment. Somewhere along the way, we forget the deeper reason why service should really count for teens.

Service was never meant to be logged like attendance. It was meant to be felt.

Why Service Hours Should Really Count for Teens

True service offers something rare. It gives our children a window into a life that is not their own.

Most of us live inside very small bubbles without even realizing it. Our routines, our schools, our neighborhoods, and our circles all begin to feel normal and complete. How often do we actually get invited into someone else’s reality? How often are we allowed to witness another life up close and be a small part of it?

When service is done with intention, it gives children an opportunity that most people never get in their entire lives. It allows them to step outside of themselves and observe the world with curiosity rather than judgment. It creates experiences that settle deep inside them in ways no lecture or lesson ever could.

I know this because of something that happened to me when I was very young.

I was in second grade when my dad decided to take me with him. Every year on his birthday, he would buy food for people who were struggling in India, but that year he chose to let me come along. I did not participate in any grand way. I sat quietly in the back seat of the car, observing everything unfold.

I remember how calm it felt at first, and then how the line slowly dissolved into chaos as people rushed forward all at once, creating a stampede that forced us to leave quickly for our own safety.

No one explained it to me. We never talked about it afterward. There was no lesson attached and no discussion at the dinner table.

And yet, that experience stayed with me for life.

It shaped the way I see privilege, gratitude, and human behavior in ways I still cannot fully articulate. It taught me something that words never could. That is the quiet power of meaningful service.

Sometimes all it takes is a window into another life to change how we see our own.

At Frolific, this belief shapes how we approach leadership development for teens. We always choose projects in our leadershp program that create real impact in our community because service should feel alive and relevant. Over the years, our students have raised funds for The Place in Forsyth County to support underprivileged children, and they have led research driven initiatives to raise awareness among local families about how to experience high school with less stress and more intention.

These experiences are not about checking off hours. They are about exposure. They are about letting teens see themselves as contributors rather than competitors.

The truth is, you never know which single moment might shape your child’s life. It could be an hour spent listening to someone else’s story. It could be a small act of service that opens their eyes to a reality they had never considered. It could be one experience that quietly settles into them and reemerges years later as empathy, perspective, or purpose.

Sometimes service looks like sitting beside someone and really listening.

That is why service hours should really count for teens in a deeper way.

When we treat service as something our children do for themselves rather than something they do for an application, everything shifts. It becomes an opportunity for gratitude, humility, and connection. It allows them to recognize the privilege of being welcomed into someone else’s life and the responsibility that comes with that trust.

This winter break, instead of rushing to find hours, I encourage you to slow down and have a conversation with your child. Talk about what kind of service would feel meaningful to them. Spend time together exploring opportunities in your local community. Create a simple plan for the year ahead, even if it is just one hour a month.

Service does not have to be big to be transformative. It simply has to be intentional.

And when it is, the impact often lasts far longer than any number on a transcript.