Be Kind ( a HOW-TO)

I'm hesitant to share this story, but I feel that it's important to for some reason. 

This morning after I drop my kids off at school I stopped at McDonald's to get a couple bags of ice and while I was there I decided to also get a breakfast sandwich. At this particular McDonald's they don't sell bags of ice so I was stuck with just the breakfast sandwich that I didn't even really want. I thought to myself ugh, why am I even here? I thought about just leaving but instead I looked around me and my eyes settled on my driver side mirror which held the face of the man in the truck behind me. 

There wasn't anything particularly special about him. He was in a work, clearly on his way to work. He look like my dad. My heart felt like I should buy his breakfast too. Part of me thought, No, he doesn't need me to buy his breakfast, but then I thought why not? If someone bought my dad's lunch that would be amazing it would make his day and it would make my day to know about. As I was driving the rest of my trip I was thinking about this and why I wanted to serve this stranger. 

I thought of my daughters. 

You see, I give them challenges on the way to school. Little things for them to perform while they're at school. I'm not worried about them being smart. They are smart. I know they're smart. They're good learners and they're going to do well in that area of their lives. 

But I'm more concerned with them being kind and for them to make friends. And not just to make friends but to be a good friend. So I used to tell them to remember to be kind and send them on the way, but now I try to teach them how to be kind. So I give them challenges on the way to school. And then I follow up with them after school to see how it went. 

Here are a few of the simple things I encourage my kids to do:

• Help someone 
• Give a complement
• Hold the door 
• Smile 
• Share
• Sacrifice something you want for someone else
• Comfort someone who looks sad or lonely
• Defend someone / stand up for someone who is picked on
• Etc.

Todays challenge was to complement three people today. Of course they didn't know what the word "compliment" meant so I had to teach them what that meant and then I had them practice on each other. 

It was adorable.