Kindness

Morning All,

I discovered earlier this week that today is World Kindness Day. I like special 'days' and particularly like the idea of a day which celebrates kindness.

Kindness is a wonderful thing, a simple act has the ability to turn someone's whole day around, or can even have a life changing impact. Isn't that incredible! Simple but powerful.

Teaching my children kindness from a young age is something that is hugely important to me. I find myself piling on the praise if Wilf does the smallest kind thing, like giving his sister a toy to play with for example. Sounds small but for him that's a big deal.

To help encourage kindness I've decided that this December we'll be inviting some 'kindness elves' into the house. I'll be taking inspiriation from the amazing Anna over at the Imagination Tree. In a nutshell they're an alternative to the popular (and slightly creepy looking) Elf on the Shelf. Take a look at her blog post which you can find here, if you have children I'm sure you'll love the ideas there. I'm hoping it will become a tradition in our household and help to encourage acts of kindness and thoughtfulness which will go way beyond just one festive month a year.
I'm sure our elves will be popping up on the little maldod instagram page to say hello at some point!

Every so often my husband leads one of the youth groups at our church. Recently he was telling me that the topic they've been looking at is kindness. They were challenging each other to carry out a random act of kindness during the week ahead without making a big fuss about it. One of the ideas that was suggested was, without being asked, emptying the dishwasher for their parents without a big song and dance. I like this idea! Not just because kind children helping at home is something I'd like to see one day but because they're learning about being quietly kind.

The bible has lots to say on kindness. Don't worry I'm not about to write a sermon, but one of the important things I think it teaches is that kindness is quiet. The greatest acts of love and kindness are those which are done humbly, quietly and sometimes almost completely anonymously. I don't know about you but I find that hugely challenging!

Why don't you carry out a quiet act of kindness today? Who knows the impact it could have.

Thanks so much for reading.

With Love,
Lowri x

A big brother and a little sister

Hello!

Prenote, this post was meant to just be a feature about the 'big/little brother, big/little sister' vests and tees. However, I'm afraid in writing it I've realised just how great siblings really are, so this post is more about that now. If you decide to read on you'll just have to excuse the sentimentality!

Watching my son and daughter start to interact and 'play' together is, for my husband and I, the nicest thing ever. Our daughter Anwen is at an age now where she won't sit still for long before she's off and trying to get at her brother's toys, usually causing much fuss in the proceedings. Just yesterday I told Wilf "well let her have just one piece of duplo and she might not try and knock it all down then." But when she's not getting into mischief and he's not grabbing toys (read, anything she picks up) back from her, they genuinely appear to be building up a sweet little friendship.

I have a sister who is just under two years younger than me, exactly the same age gap as there is between my two. Although we're really quite different in character and had our fair share of arguments growing up (oh, I could tell a story or two...) we are now very close. She's one of the reasons little maldod exists and has been a constant supporter/encourager/advisor from day one. She's an amazing, fun and very generous Aunty but most importantly I can without doubt call her one of my best friends.

I have friends who are like sisters and I know my husband definitely has mates who are like brothers too, but I think there's something extra special about the bond that siblings have together. From the memories shared of family parties, holidays, silly things we made each other do and things that used to wind our parents up (yes, a few stories there too!) to just 'getting' each other and being able to talk straight. I'm loving seeing Wilf and Anwen growing up and forming that special bond from a young age.

When Anwen came along our lovely friends and family who visited bought gifts for Wilf and showered him with attention as a new big brother. I've always thought its important to make the older sibling(s) feel really special when a little brother or sister comes along as its such a huge change for them, regardless of their age.

The big/little brother and big/little sister vests and tees are a lovely gift idea, not just for Christmas but also for a little one with a new sibling.

Available in the little maldod shop. 

I'd intended to have big brother/ little sister tops ready and waiting for when Anwen was born but alas that didn't feature in my newborn preparations. However, I'm delighted that they're now available in the shop. I made up samples for my two to model but as you can see from the photos below (the vests being hardly readable) they had other ideas.

Can you tell he's had enough by this point?!

Anyway, you can see them properly above and they're available to buy online now (links above.)

Thank you so much for reading.

Much love,
Lowri