Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Random Acts of Kindness

Today my five year old nephew and I set out for a "Be Kind to Others Day." We quickly found out two things: 1. People are hesitant to others being kind 2. It feels pretty amazing doing things for others. 

Before we left the house we put some fudge and a Christmas card on the mailbox for the mail carrier. When we were driving home we saw him walking a couple houses down with our package in hand. I'm really not sure why I haven't done that before.


We got in the car and drove to a local park with a huge playground. We started handing out candy canes and Christmas pencils to kids on the play structures. We even hung some candy canes on the slides and ladders. We came across a parent who was taken aback and kept making sure we didn't want any money for them. We just said, "Merry Christmas!" and headed to the car. My nephew didn't even want to play, he said we had other "missions of kindness" to go on. Love that little guy.


We stopped by Starbucks for some hot chocolate, because by our wimpy standards, it was cold! We paid for the person behind us in the drive-thru which put a big smile on the barista's face. 


Our next stop was to the local hospital. We put some coins in baggies, added our random acts of kindness tags, and taped some to the snack and drink vending machines throughout the hospital. Hopefully they'll warm some hearts!



We loaded up our plastic red bucket again, this time with some Christmas themed pencils, erasers, stencils, and notepads. We visited the local library and stopped in at the children's section. 



We left the bucket with the library clerk to hand out to children. She was so overwhelmed, I think she said thank you 20 times. She told my nephew she appreciated his spirit of giving and a huge grin spread across his face. He said, "This is fun!" 


Our last stop for the day was to a Salvation Army kettle in front of the grocery store. The bellringer was  very sweet, although I'm really not sure how her ears are not super sore by the end of the day from all of the ringing.
On the way home my nephew and I had a long talk in the car about being kind to others. He chalked it up to being like the game Hot Potato. He said you shouldn't keep kindness to yourself, you should keep passing it along back and forth. Melt. my. heart.

If you're interested in a freebie of the tags we used for our acts of kindness, get them here! I'd love to hear about your acts of kindness!

9 comments:

  1. You are pretty dang awesome! I love this post and I think I will share it with my students tomorrow. We did a RAK today in class, but your post drives it home! Thank you!!!

    Tina
    Crofts' Classroom

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  2. I love your new blog background so cute! I loved all of you R.A.K ideas. I love your tags. My children and I have been doing a Christmas R.A.K countdown everyday. Today we did two of our items because we didn't have time yesterday. We put candycanes on peoples cars. We also taped a bag of popcorn to the redbox machine. I agree with the fact that people act different when you're trying to be kind. One woman took the bag off and stuck it on the side of the redbox. My kids were super sad. We drove by about an hour later and it was gone so we were glad someone took it.
    ☀Rikki
    The Hive
    I'm having a giveaway if you would like to check it out!

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  3. What a wonderful day! I love the idea of leaving change around the vending machines! Spreading kindness one person at a time!
    -Lovely Nina

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  4. Oh my gosh- that's AWESOME! What a great thing you have done, not only for others, but for your nephew!

    I will never forget when I was a kid and my mom bought a homeless man a bag of cheeseburgers from McDonald's! Such a silly little thing, but it has made a big impression. Your nephew will remember this forever!

    :)
    Christina
    *Bunting, Books, and Bainbridge*

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  5. Awesome ideas for RAK! You left a comment on my post so I came by to check your blog. I'm glad I did! You have a very cute blog design and I was amazed by your post! I'm your newest follower!
    Diane

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  6. So cute! I can't wait to have my own kids to do things like this with them :)

    If you have time, stop by my blog and check out my giveaway!
    Thanks!
    Sarah
    The Fabulous First Grade

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  7. I loved reading about these random acts of kindness! Very inspiring. Thanks! I also love your blog, and that I'm your 80th follower! :)

    Tanya Rae…

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