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
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