Honestly, I have not had the greatest success in encouraging my children to be best friends;
even though "Be kind and loving to each other" is without a doubt the most quoted phrase
of any in our house.
I am, therefore, always on the lookout for new ways to promote loving kindness within the family.
I do have a new idea,
and I am excited about it.
I am not sure what, if any, the results may be, but we are going to try it.
Today is the first day of February, a good day to begin,
as my desire is to display love to one another in a variety of ways throughout the month,
not just on Valentines day.
The big idea is a Lovingkindess Mailbox.
It all started when I was looking up fun stuff to make with cardboard on Pinterest.
There I saw a cardboard mailbox, and bam! The whole idea struck me.
Yesterday, the younger children made us a mailbox.
I wrapped it in paper to help improve the looks.
(chuckle)
Next to the mailbox is a stack of 3 x 5 cards and a bunch of Valentines stickers.
Here are the rules:
1. Each day, everyone in the family must write a nice note to one family member and stick it in the mailbox.
2. You must write every person in the family before you repeat a note to a person.
3. Mail will be handed out every day at dinner.
The children were enthusiastic about getting started., and
I am interested to see how things turn out at dinner tonight!
Please ,do tell, what do you find helpful to promote kindness in your family?
Awaiting your ideas,
Julianne
Julianne,
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea. I am going to try this (without the Valentine theme)in my classroom. It seems like we all need help expressing kindness toward each other. Thank you for sharing your wonderful idea.
Julie
Aw, thanks Julie! Imitation is the greatest compliment. I hope it works well for your class. It is going fabulously here. I would love to hear of your results, so please keep me posted.
ReplyDeleteJulianne,
ReplyDeleteWe are reading the books nominated for the Children's Choice award and one of them was perfect for launching your idea. The title of the book is Each Kindness. It is about a girl who was not kind to new classmate. She went along with the other children's shunning even though the girl attempted to be friendly. Then the girl moves and the main character realizes and is saddened by her cruelness. I really liked your idea of a card to everyone before a repeat. I now have a kindness page in my grade book so that I can keep track of them :) The children have been using all their spare moments to write cards and I watched several kiddos tuck them carefully into pencil boxes for safe keeping. It really is bringing a renewed sense of being kind to each other. Thanks again for sharing your great ideas :) Julie
Dearest Julie,
ReplyDeleteGreetings to you from the woodsy middle of no where. The other book title is "The Wisdom of Fenelon."
It is book season, with colds and flu and blankets and pillows by the fire! Hope you are staying well.