In December, my friend Alana posted a gift card for Starbucks on Instagram. She invited people to buy coffee on her. Her selflessness was so thoughtful and giving and people really appreciated it.
And then I saw it happen… People started to pay it forward.
Sometimes life gets so busy that we forget to stop and look around. We stop to consider what other people are thinking, doing, or even that they may be struggling.
I don’t know about you but I feel amazing when I do random acts of kindness for others. It’s almost like I start to walk a little lighter and I can’t stop smiling.
I need more of that in my life.
Last week I started to do some of my own random acts of kindness. I want to spread some joy and positivity to people who could use a pick me up or need to know I appreciate them. It started with some $5 gift certificates for Starbucks that went out in the mail with an encouraging note. It continued with embroidered baby gifts for expecting twins, paying for the coffee of the person behind me, and coordinating a pick up of expired car seats so that some new moms could trade them in for coupons.
These random acts of kindness were contagious for me. I found that people started giving to others. Car seats started appearing on my doorstep and someone bought me an ice cream when the girls and I went out after school.
I searched for a way to explain the importance of this to the girls. They are 6, 5, and 3 and I just couldn’t seem to make the words have the weight they needed to. They just weren’t getting it.
Then the idea struck:
We were headed to the park to play and ride bikes and stopped at the store to buy a bunch of flowers. We talked about how some people may be feeling bad and how we could make them smile. With a little guidance, they decided that people at the hospital were probably the most sad.
So we took a bunch of $6 flowers to the hospital parking lot and left one flower in each car’s door handle.
The expression and excitement the girls had while spreading the flowers around the parking lot was overwhelming. I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen them that happy – especially to do something for other people that they have never met.
At dinner that night, the girls came up with ways they could do random acts of kindness for other people, including other kids at school.
Kindness is contagious. It spreads like wildfire.
xoxo
–k
Read how we started spreading joy with Random Acts of Kindness
Kindness is contagious. It spreads like wildfire. Start spreading joy by doing random acts of kindness for others.
Click to see a list of Random Acts of Kindness your child can easily do
Teaching our kids to do Random Acts of Kindness teaches them empathy, compassion, and thoughtfulness. Here’s a printable list of activities your children can do for others and the people who would be great recipients.
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