Happy RAK (Random Acts of Kindness) Day!!

Today's my favorite holiday, and yet, not many people know about it.  Today is a national day to celebrate kindness, but even more, it's a day to promote random kindness--meaning unplanned kindness to everyone and anyone.

This quote comes from the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation.

I started celebrating this day/week when Lewie was just four years old.  We'd bake cookies, write cards, and create little "surprise" care packages for our friends and family.  The fun of it, as he soon learned, was the element of surprise.  Giving from the heart feels good, but it feels even better when you surprise someone with no expectation to receive anything in return.

This year, I gathered up my surprise gift boxes, and we (Lewie and I) started delivering them on Friday.  Since everyone lives at a distance, it's hard to do the surprise visits all in one day, so instead, it's been a weekend of giving.  Thankfully, I have President's Day off tomorrow, so I'll be able to finish my mission then.  Little Lewie's used to the routine; he knew exactly who we would be visiting this year.

Still, RAK week is not just for celebrating the ones we love and cherish.  It's also about doing favors for those around us whether it's holding a door, buying someone a cup of coffee, sharing a smile, offering to carry a heavy bag, etc.  We intentionally do these small gestures today with the hope that they become an everyday habit.  My goal is not to raise the smartest, richest, or most successful kid; my goal is to raise a thoughtful human being who is kind, gentle, and confident.

This year, as I started looking up Random Acts of Kindness for kids, I uncovered this amazing website/business called The Idea Box Kids (http://theideaboxkids.com/).  An idea box is "a little box filled with wood coins" that provide inspirational ideas for kids.  (I wish I knew about this when Lewie was younger.)  Still, I came across their "Caring" box, which provides simple ideas/acts on how to display kindness, such as "Tell someone you love them," "Be patient today," "Pull some weeds or water plants," "Put a note or picture on someone's pillow before bed," etc.  Even though the box is meant for children, I bought it for the entire family.  From now until the end of the month, all of us will be selecting a coin or two and doing "a caring act."  In fact, I hope to pull out this box anytime we may need a reminder on how we can touch people's lives and create a culture of altruism.

Image comes from http://theideaboxkids.com/teaching-empathy-kids-acts-of-kindness/

This image comes from http://theideaboxkids.com/teaching-empathy-kids-acts-of-kindness/.

I'm using photos right from the Idea Box Kids website because they so beautifully share their craftsmanship.  (Their photos are way better than mine.)  I highly encourage anyone with children to look at their array of boxes.  I bought others for Lewie that I hope to open during the summer, with coins on "Adventure" and essential "Life Skills."

For now, the biggest life skill I can wish for Lewie is how to be kind to people--even when people are not kind back or do not share our same values.  In some ways, it might be one of the hardest lessons for us to learn, and yet, it could inspire a movement that changes our lives and the world.