A woman who’s spending the holidays on her own says she’s tired of one suggestion in particular: that single people should volunteer over Christmas and New Year’s.
Posting on the community forum Mumsnet, she said she finds it “patronizing” when others treat volunteering as the default plan for anyone who’s single during the festive season.
“Why is it always the suggestion that single people alone over the festive season volunteer for something?” she wrote. “It’s rare that this is suggested when a couple asks for ideas of things to do.”
She added that the implication doesn’t sit well with her. “This implies, to me, that single people are only worthy if their time is spent in servitude somehow. That their time is of less value.”
Feeling “irked” by the recurring advice, she asked fellow Mumsnet users to weigh in.
Some readers said they understood her point, but still didn’t think volunteering should be dismissed outright. “I don’t disagree, but if you don’t have a more enjoyable social alternative, then I think I would not discard the idea,” one person replied.
Others suggested the recommendation is often about companionship, not judgment. “They’re suggesting it to you because you are alone and might think you’d like the company of others,” another commenter said. “They won’t say it to a couple because they aren’t.”
Not everyone pushed volunteering as the answer, though. One person offered a simpler alternative: “Stay at home and enjoy Christmas movies.”
