Friday Family Fill-In: It's Nice to Do Nice Things (Part 1)

I think the greatest honor that has been, or ever will be, bestowed upon me is that of becoming a parent. I take this honor very, very seriously. 

What's more, I feel a sense of responsibility to leave the world a better place than it was when I was born, in part through raising loving, responsible, gracious, and kind children who will ultimately aim to leave their own positive mark on the world. 

Kindness. To me, a trait that is frequently overlooked in our frenzied, technologically savvy, competitive, modern world. 

And so. 

I decided to challenge myself. To challenge my children. To teach myself. To teach my children:

The incredibly important, invaluable lesson of bestowing kindness, unsolicited kindness, upon others. Unsuspecting others. 

 

And so. 

In the spirit of the month of Thanksgiving, as a way of showing thankfulness for what we have and giving back to others, I thought it only fitting to pay it forward. What's more, I thought this would serve a very valuable lesson for my kiddos (well, really, my oldest at this point, since my baby doesn't quite "get" kindness at the wise ol' age of 10 months old) about the importance of gratitude, responsibility, and kindness. 

Thus. November now has a motto in our household: "It's nice to do nice things for others." In other words, it's Random Acts of Kindness month in our house, y'all. 

We've started already, with the goal of doing at least 30 random acts of kindness this month. I will use this blog to document some of these random acts, with the goal of influencing YOU, my friends, family, and sweet readers, to also pay it forward in some way, shape, or form this month. 

So. 

Off we go:

We delivered hot chocolate to the construction workers who are building the house behind ours after a long, cold day at work

We sent a nice thank you card and cupcakes to Banks' teachers on his last day before switching schools

  

We paid for the delicious, caffeinated beverage of the person behind us in the drive thru at Starbucks 

 

We gave homemade pumpkin bread and a bottle of wine to a neighbor

I sent an email to a dear friend telling her just how amazing I think she is

  

We taped money to the quarter machines at our grocery store so that other children could enjoy a special treat

 

We left a gift card for our sweet mail carrier

 

We brought a gift to our sweet nieces/cousins (a fun craft activity) just because

We donated items to our local Boy Scouts, who in turn will be donating them to families in need around the community

We are now nine days in, and I'd say that our month o' kindness is off to a good start. And now, we're off to spread more kindness to unsuspecting others because "It's nice to do nice things for others." Until next week...