I’m super jazzed to be coming together with Toddler Approved and Coffee Cups and Crayons on a series for Random Acts of Kindness! What a brilliant thing to blog about to add more happiness to the world and teach our kids an important skill while their young – selflessness!
I’ve been brainstorming all day trying to think of a unique, out-of-the box idea for showing kindness but then I realized somewhere along the line I forgot what this whole thing was about. It’s not to impress others, it’s to bless them and usually the things that make the biggest difference are the small and simple things. And the simple things allow the most room for the kids to get creative, we can all admit that the kids are usually the ones that come up with the best ideas anyway!
Teaching Kids Kindness
So now let me introduce you to our Favorite Giving Game: “The Lumpy Pillowcase” — a simple, effective way to show kindness that has endless possibilities.
“The lumpy pillowcase” is our name for a pillow that has had kindness snuck into it. It’s bumpy and lumpy from surprises slipped in randomly by other family members. It can be anything slipped in the pillowcase:
Our favorites are things that crinkle when you lay your head down:
- “I love you” notes
- Drawings — a picture for daddy of a favorite time together or one for mommy with her favorite flower.
- Homemade coupons — work great for older kids! They can be as simple as “I will do 1 of your chores this week” or “You can have the iPad first tomorrow.”
Of course you can get more organized and take the kids to the dollar store to buy gifts for one another but I would challenge you to first see what ideas they come up with, you might be surprised at how generous they will become!
If you do head to the dollar store take your kids separately if possible, make it a special date with them! Give them a few dollars that they can spend buying a few items that they can use to surprise the family over the next few days. You can also empower your kids and let them work for the money to buy the gifts.
It’s fun to get everyone in on the lumpy pillowcase game! Mom, Dad, and all the kids — everyone can leave notes for whoever they randomly feel like blessing! The only rule is you can never ask to receive.
And a super bonus for us parents is the lumpy pillowcase gets the kids are excited about bedtime — which makes it win-win for everyone! Enjoy!
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kidseducstion says
Ya definitely kindness is the only way to handle kids easily