Summer is just around the corner — do you really want to spend it watching T. V. or playing video games?

You can choose to be a Superhero instead, and help someone in the process. Spend this summer volunteering instead of sitting on the couch. You can find volunteer opportunities in your community that will allow you to make a real difference this summer — and make you a leader in the game of life.

When I googled Summer Opportunities for Kids I got over 1 million hits. There are a lot of options out there; it just depends on what interests you. Call your local chapter of the United Way to see what organized opportunities they offer in your area. They have supervised volunteer opportunities that will make your parents feel secure. If you can’t find a supervised activity, and you’re home alone anyway, get together with your parents to come up with a list of businesses where you already know the owners. That way, when you call to see if they need help, they already know that you’re a helpful kid who will be an asset. Check out these ideas to see if they appeal to you and your parents:

1. If animals are your thing, you can call your local animal shelter or your veterinarian’s office to see if they need help exercising or bathing animals. Or you can get a group of your friends together to offer pet sitting services in your neighborhood. You can make a difference in an animal’s life and feel good about yourself in the process.

2. If you love the elderly, call local retirement homes to see if they need any help entertaining the residents. You and your friends could organize a sing- along or a play. You can lead practices at your house, and then ask one of your parents to chaperone for the actual performance.

3. If the environment is important to you, check out your local paper’s community pages to see if anyone is organizing a roadside clean- up or a beach clean-up. Or maybe you can come up with a program to encourage your neighborhood or church to switch to re- useable grocery bags over plastic bags.

4. Help out your friend’s family and have them do the same for yours. Do your parents have a project they’ve been putting off, like cleaning up leaves, painting fences or planting flowers? You can get together with your friends and their parents to get ‘ er done! This is how people in the old days would build houses; everyone would show up and build a whole house together. When we all pull together, it’s amazing what we can accomplish!

5. Ask at your community center or church to see if they need decorations for an event. You and your friends could arrange flowers, paint banners, or make centerpieces. If you’re tech savvy, maybe you could design a flyer or help create an ad for their website or Facebook page.

6. You and your friends could organize a neighborhood yard sale to help everyone clean out their garage; that way you can all start the new school year more organized. If you’re a budding chef, maybe you could help plan a neighborhood bar-b-que or potluck to show off the dishes you’ve learned — with your parents’ supervision when it comes to anything involving a stove or grill!

If none of these ideas appeal to you, put on your creative hat and come up with your own. Better yet, get your friends together to brainstorm as a group. We are always better when we surround ourselves with our support system; I call that our Pride. I watched lionesses work together in Africa, and I saw that a Pride could do things that one lioness could not do alone. When you choose to volunteer this summer, you will be increasing the size of your Pride, and you will actually have something meaningful to say when someone asks you how you spent your summer. Do your research and come up with some different options for you and your friends; then go to your parents with a plan. Your parents will be so impressed by your initiative, that they might jump on the volunteer bandwagon with you. Anyone can watch their summer pass by, only Superheroes will go a step further to use their time and energy to change the world.