Want to teach your children the important of an act of kindness? We are taking a week to create a family kindness bomb……and I'm sharing how!
Let's be honest, the world? Is a little bit of a scary place to raise kids right now. From natural disasters to our current political climate to the statistics on homelessness to the stories I read about human trafficking…..it just feels like the world our children live in is less innocent than the world I grew up in.
Last week I was chatting with a few of my favorite moms over a glass of wine. Ironically, we were at a charity event to support a local organization that support children who have been physically abused. The conversation turned to our current climate, and we all spent the remainder of our glass of wine talking about our concerns about the world our children are growing up in.
One of the things that came out of our chat? A deep need to DO SOMETHING. To teach our kids that small changes do make a difference. The idea (on my part) that if we all gave just a little each day or each week…..we could create big change in our culture.
Enter, our family kindness bomb. I'm sharing how we plan to use an act of kindness a day to start a ripple effect…..and how you can help with your own children!
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Lydia: / tee c/o Mama Said Tees / sneakers /
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pictures by Mily Cooper Photography
An Act of Kindness: Our Family Kindness Bomb
What's our plan? It's simple. To do an act of kindness each day for a week. Nothing crazy, we have work and school (as I'm sure you do). I'm talking simple five minute tasks that will make a difference to the person who receives them. From leaving a snack for our mail carrier and thank you note to paying for the car behind us in the Starbucks drive through line…….from Saturday October 28th until Saturday November 4th…….Lydia and I will be doing an act of kindness (or more than one) each day and sharing our idea on our Instagram Stories. I hope you'll follow along, and that you'll be inspired to participate in an act of kindness with your own kids (be sure to use hashtag #aservingfamily to share your own acts of kindness so we can see them).
Our big goal? To not stop on November 4th. To continue to participate in family acts of kindness throughout the year.
The best part? We made these cute printables to give out as we complete an act of kindness……to encourage the recipients to create a kind act of their own! You can print this for free (I'm planning to keep a few in my car so that they're always there and ready to be used).
<CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THIS FREE PRINTABLE>
Mama Said Tees
Ok, I know. You're swooning over the cute, fun graphic tees Lydia and I are wearing in these pictures. Adorable right? And perfect for wearing while we are working on an act of kindness (full disclosure, I wear mine to work ALL the time… as a nonverbal reminder to the students, ha!). They're from one of my favorite companies, Mama Said Tees. Mama Said Tees is a company founded by two amazing mamas (trust me, read their story HERE) and based on the idea that a company that could spread love & kindness across the hearts of our children. They make adorable tees with message of love, kindness, and inclusion….and run amazing campaigns that encourage us all to give back to each other (their kindness boomerang is an AWESOME idea)!
And now, they're working with me to encourage y'all to contribute an act of kindness. We are giving one lucky family a $100 shop credit to Mama Said Tees (just in time for their holiday releases). So enter away!
Are you planning to work on an act of kindness with your family? Be sure to print out our act of kindness cards and to share on social media using #aservingfamily so that we can see your ideas!
It’s hard to think of one ahead of a time. A lot of our acts of kindness are kind of spur-of-the-moment.
They need help delivering meals to our shutins at church. I would like to do that.
We donate to our local food bank.
I would love to pay for another family’s lunch while we are out and about!!
I would love to try serving the local homeless this year at Thanksgiving and Christmas as an act of kindness with my family!
I think it would be awesome to serve meals at a homeless shelter as a family, maybe on Thanksgiving.
I like to give back by fostering dogs. I have one arriving today, hoping to get her to her forever home.
I’m just a single person so I try to do an act of kindness whenever I can and am able to. Just a couple days ago I helped a person who was much older than me carry some groceries to her apartment in the complex that I live in 🙂
At LEAST once a year I make my boys completely empty out their closet& toy boxes& we all donate the things we dont use to our local Christian mission. (Its a little thrift store located in an old church& it sells items& donates the moneys to people in need in the community- in cases of victims of fire& theft& folks just down on their luck)
I of course LOVE paying for the persons order behind me at Starbucks & at Chick-fil-A! I remember being absolutely blown away the first time someone paid for my Starbucks!! Every year around this time My kiddos and I go through all their toys and clothes that they don’t play with and have out grown & we give it all to a family in need!!
We have an elderly neighbor and my son mows her lawn the entire summer.
I would love to volunteer as a family at our local food bank!
One we could do that we have been thinking of is paying for a friend to fly down with his son this holiday season, and help get them to the theme parks. He is going through a separation and is having a tough time.
Just yesterday, some of my girls and I dropped off some DVDs to a friend who had mentioned that she had been watching some of the parts on YouTube with her girls. I happened to have copies of two of them that I had planned on selling, but gave them to her instead.
My daughter’s bff moved a couple of states away about two years ago. I send her little care packages but I am trying to think of something special to do for her for Thanksgiving. She is usually alone on Thanksgiving so I was thinking of ordering a food delivery of some kind.
I am going to make dinner for a could of neighbors
We collect toys all year to donate for Christmas gift baskets for the holidays.
Snow Blowing Side walks,Shoveling Snow.anything to help our neighbor’s or any1 That Needs Our Help !!!!
I would like us all to pick out some gifts to put under the angel tree for Christmas that go to the less fortunate children
I’d love to run a marathon with my family for either cancer or for a food shelter
I would love to volunteer with my son at the local animal shelter
As a family I would like to volunteer at a soup kitchen, but we don’t have any close to us.
I live alone, and my community act of kindness is reporting items that need bulk pickup in my area, and tidying up as much as I can. I also leave rinsed aluminum cans in a separate bag for the homeless who recycle them. I have mobility issues and walk with a cane. My daughter and her kids periodically take grocery bags and gloves and pick up the trash in their neighborhood, especially around bus stops. We live in a large urban area. I volunteered for 5 years at a nonprofit that provided services to folks with vision problems but it lost its major funding source and closed.
I paid for a meal at a fast food place for a senior citizen. Felt good to help someone else
TO DELIVER FOOD TO OUR LOCAL HOMELESS COMMUNITY
We have worked at a food bank for several years.
I would start a family donation of items we no longer use or need and give to the salvation army.
My son has been working at Meals on Wheels.
We pray for our neighbors to be full of happiness and joy!
I would like for the whole family to participate in our local Angel Tree this year. Sponsor at least one family from our family.
I would love to try sponsoring a family for Christmas
I take blankets, hygiene and first aid products to the homeless living under the bridge in Morgantown
We have done a lot of things together as a family for charity! We started these practices when our children were young so they would grow up with these good traits! We are empty nesters now, but I still buy toys throughout the year to give out to Toys for Tots, one of our favorite charities!!
No child should go without gifts for Christmas!
We also do things when we can or on the spur of the moment!
We cleaned up a neighbors yard after Irma.
I would like us to volunteer our time together as a family to our local Rescue Mission on Thanksgiving serving meals and providing kindness to those who are less fortunate than us. It is something that I have always wanted to do but have waited for the kids to get older so they know exactly what this means and make it a special experience for them. Thanks so very much for the chance to win this great prize!
I want to create hospital bags for chemotherapy patients.
bake brownies for neighbors
My daughters were outside playing and noticed the neighbor trying to rake and bag leaves. She’s got to be in her late 70’s at least, and kind of fragile. We could see she was having a difficult time and not very steady on her feet so we went over and helped her get her yard all raked and even nut 4 year old helped hold the bag and stuff the leaves inside.
I would like for my family to help with and serve Thanksgiving Dinner at one of the homeless shelters this year and /or visit several nursing homes around Christmas this year too.
our whole family will be together this Thanksgiving. We’ve planned on purchasing items for a family shopping together (not on black Friday) wrapping and taking to our church for Christmas
We will give back this year by creating cards for a local nursing home.
Going to nursing homes with presents.
I would like to try working at the soup kitchen as a family.
Love this! What a great way to teach your children about giving.