I recently read an article about the 'entitlement' culture that our children seem to be a part of. The article went on to point out how we as parents have a tendency to fuel this entitlement culture. Whilst I understand what the author says and to some extent, I am guilty of it as well as a parent, the reality is also that our children live in a very different world to the one we did and it is a herculean task to take away all the commercialism and materialism out of their lives (at least in my opinion).
So to balance it, I thought we could do something that teaches Lil Miss J to do things for others this holiday season and I'm hoping we can carry it through past the holiday season as well.
A quick look at pinterest revealed loads of ideas and here is our version of the Kindness Advent (which will be opened alongside her 'Frozen' advent calendar - I know, I know!).
We have some very simple ideas on there - some as simple as choosing books to donate to charity, buying some food and donating to the homeless shelter, writing a thank you letter to her teachers, leaving a treat for the postman etc. The toughest task was slotting the activities based on our days' commitments in December. There will be a certain degree of flexibility - but as long as we do one random act of kindness a day, we will have achieved what we wanted to out of this exercise.
The idea is to focus her attention on doing things for others and realising that this in turn will bring her joy.
This cost me nothing to make! The envelopes are school dinner money envelopes and I just stuck some printed images on them :)
What a fabulous idea..!!
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