Toddler Friendly: Acts of Kindness List

November 13th was World Kindness Day!  Did you help bring kindness to the world yesterday?

source:  Operationnice.com 

My three year old and I sat down together and wrote a short list of ways that we can practice being kind everyday.  The conversation went something like this:

Mom:  Hey, let's talk about being nice.  What are some nice things we can do to show other people that we are kind and care about them?  Like, when we wave to our neighbors!  Hey, waving to people to say hello is nice!  Can you think of a nice thing to do?

3yr old:  Abba's nice (his grandma)

Mom:  She is nice!  What does she do that is nice?

3yr old:  She gives us gum!

Mom:  Gemmi (his 1.5yr old sister) is nice too!  What does Gem do to us and her babies that is nice?

3yr old:  She loves hugging

....etc.

So together we talked about and came up with the following list of ways we can try to be kind a little each day.

Later in the day, we visited with my grandfather (the kids' great grandfather) who is in the beginning stages of Dementia.  It was a nice visit that had my grandfather laughing and high five-ing (on our list!) the kids while he watched them skip and jump around theatrically.

When my grandfather asked how old Grey was (for about the 7th time), Grey answered:  "Pap!  I'm three and half!  You keep forgetting!" and then the two of them looked at each other in exasperated giggles.

It was a simple (and free!) day of World Kindness for us!  What did you do to bring kindness to someone's day?

Our Surroundings: The Way We Speak

We are very mindful of the words that come out of our mouths around the kids.  Obviously we watch what we say in terms of curse words and negative-connotative adjectives.  But equally so (or maybe more so), we are mindful of the way we speak about things in front of them.  How we help shape the way they see things around them through a lens of kindness, gratitude, and patience.

The way we speak about our surroundings is a prime example of how we are mindful about our conversations with our kids.  Family and friends probably laugh a little to themselves when they hear us speaking in our 'pre-school cartoon' way when we talk to the kids - but its really an effective way to reach out to kids and help them understand, so we roll with.

Here are some examples of the way we speak to our kids about their surroundings with kindness, gratitude, and patience.

When we get stopped in traffic because of road construction:
3yr old:  Why did we stop?
Parent:  We have to stop because the men are working on the road to make it safe for us.
3yr old:  I want to go!
Parent:  I would like to go too, but these workers are working so hard!  We just need to wait our turn and then we will get to pass.  We are lucky that the men are working so hard to help keep us safe.

When we find anything that the kids want to take home (ie. bugs, pets at the pet store, toys, stuffed animals, etc)
3yr old:  Can I have/hold it?
Parent:  We can look at it for a minute, but then we'll have to let it get back to her/his family.
3yr old:  But I want it.
Parent:  I know you do, its very cute/interesting - but s/he needs to stay with/find his family.  Maybe we can tell her/him thank you for the visit.
3yr old:  Thank you!  I'll miss you!

When we notice anything that is interesting/beautiful/fun (sunset, moon, playground, statue, garden, animals, etc):
Parent:  Do you see that?!  It is so beautiful
3yr old:  Wow!  It is beautiful!
1yr old:  Woooooow!
-Conversation about how/why it happened/is there-
Parent:  How lucky we are to live in a place that has that?!

When it rains:
Parent:  Do you see those dark clouds?  Do you know what that means?
3yr old:  It's going to rain today!
Parent:  Yep!  And that means all of our trees and flowers and our garden is going to get a nice big drink!
3yr old:  They are going to be so happy!
Parent:  They are!  I think they are pretty thirsty, so this rain is great!  We can play inside so that the trees and grass can get their drink today, huh?

When its not the season that they want right now:
3yr old:  I want to go sled-riding/swimming/trick-or-treating
Parent:  Aw man!  That sounds like fun, but it's not winter/summer/fall right now.
3yr old:  But I want it to be winter/summer/fall today!
Parent:  It will be time for that soon, but right now we are having this season.  There are fun things we do in this season too - let's talk about that, like what about ____?

After we stop to visit with someone we know out and about:
3yr old:  Who was that?
Parent:  That was our friends/family/neighbor.  That was very nice to see them and say hello, wasn't it?  We have great family/friends/neighbors!

Our surroundings and our world have become such a more magical place when we make an attempt to view it through kindness, gratitude, and patience for our kids' sake.  I have been so happy and proud to hear our 3year old say things like, "It was very nice to see our neighbor today.  He was working so hard outside!"  or "Look at that beautiful moon, I'm happy the moon came to see us tonight!"

It takes small effort to consciously speak with kindness about your surroundings - maybe a little more when you're surroundings are slowing you down - but the payoff is great for the way that you can help your kids (and those around you) see the world as a kind and beautiful place.

Local Humane Society Donation

Our two dogs, Bullet and Trixie were both rescued from an unsavory ending and welcomed with love into our house where we operate in happy chaos with two small kids and two big dogs.

So we have a personal connection to the pups and kitties who are waiting for their families at our local humane society.  Before deciding on our donation items, we always check the local website first to see what is on their wishlist to make sure that what we donate will be used and is what they need.  

After we purchase our supplies, the kids and I head up to make the drop-off and visit with the animals for a little while.  I like to chat with the kids in the car ride up to the shelter about how the animals we will be visiting don't have families yet and remind them that our dogs do have a family (us!).  My little talk goes something like this, 

Me:  Hey guys, we are going to visit some of Bully & Trixie's friends today.  The puppies and kitties live in a place called The Humane Society.  They all live there because they don't have families yet.  

3yearold:  Why don't they have families?

Me:  Because their family didn't find them yet.  We are going to take them some presents today and visit with them.  But remember that we already have pets in our family, so we are just visiting today to say hello to these puppies and kitties. 

3yearold:  Yea! Bully and Trixie are our family, huh, Mum?

Me:  Yep!  They are our family...just like Lola and Jinx (our cats).  We are people and they are animals, but we are all one family together.  

Every time we make a donation to the Humane Society, it is always a 'close call' getting out of there without a new pet since my heart aches for those sad faces.  (although you'd think it wouldn't be too difficult of a decision with 2 dogs, 2 cats, and 9 fish at home- hah!)

The kids love visiting with the animals and the folks at the shelter are always happy to receive donations of goods.  This is an easy act of kindness (although not very emotionally easy!) and is our little way of taking time out of the year to remember to be specifically grateful for our pets who had their share of time in a shelter (or were headed there).  

Our family is a crazy one with equal parts mammals to humans - but one that we love and wouldn't trade for anything.

Cookies & a Thank you for the local Volunteer Fire Department

This past March, we got to work on our monthly kindness by baking cookies for our local volunteer fire department.  This is a monthly kindness that we have done every year since we started 12MoK in our family.  We like it because it's both easy and fun, but most of all - it's one the kids can get in on even as very young.

This year, I made press-cookies and Greyson (3years) topped them off with some red sugar- hope the fireman like sprinkles-  hahh, he was pretty generous!

As the cookies baked, Greyson and Gemma (1year) got to work with crayons on coloring some pictures and I wrote a quick thank you note to take over with our baked goodies.

While we bake and color, I lead the kids in thinking and talking about why we are thankful for fireman in our community.  We talk about the fire whistles and what it means when we hear them (that the firefighters are going to help someone) and that to be a firefighter you have to be very brave because 'they go help when everyone else is running away or afraid.'

In past years, we've baked all sorts of cookies ranging from sugar cookies with homemade icing to store-bought (tear & bake style).  It really has depended on our level of busyness that month and what seems manageable.  

This kindness is both kind-friendly and easy to complete.  The firefighters are always grateful to get a sweet surprise at the firehouse and its a good opportunity to talk to our kids about local heroes.

How do you thank your local volunteers?