Acts of Kindness by Real Families is a series of short interviews featuring stories about service to others. Whether big or small, planned out or spontaneous, hearing about any act of kindness can inspire us to give more to those around us. It’s fun to find new ways to show kindness in our communities, and I hope you will… {read more}
Blog
Who do you see when you look in the mirror?
I had a bit of a surreal moment this afternoon when I glanced in the mirror before heading out for school pick-up. I caught a glimpse of something on the side of my face, and I leaned in to check. What I saw shocked me. I saw my face close-up, not over the bathroom sink a few… {read more}
Dear Daughter: When Times Are Hard
Dear Daughter, This time last year I was impatiently enduring the two week wait to find out if we would be having another baby. One year later here you are – three months old in my arms. I am so grateful. I don’t even know how to express my gratitude. But I also remember the emotions I… {read more}
Kids’ Emotions are Real, Too
Children may be small, but they are still people. And their feelings deserve respect. When my three month old baby cries in the carseat because she is tired and wants to be held, that is real frustration. When my four year old shouts because he wants another cookie, that is real anger. When my six year old… {read more}
Review: Baby’s Bucket Book (Bucket Filler Resources for Teaching Kindness)
If you have been following my blog for a while, you’ll know I’m a huge fan of the Bucket Filler resources. Have You Filled A Bucket Today? A Guide to Happiness for Kids is such a gift to kids (and families, and schools!) because it offers a concrete way to visualise what kindness is. You can… {read more}
How to Teach Generosity to Young Children
In my ongoing effort to simplify our life, we have been giving a lot of things away and I love the attitude it’s creating in our home. We are trying to keep what we truly need and donate everything else so it can be used by others. The kids are realising that *stuff* is made… {read more}
Simple Living: Newborn Essentials
Last year, I shared a post about how I was decluttering our home and becoming more intentional about bringing *stuff* into our family’s space. Less stuff meant less time spent organising, cleaning, and being distracted from what was really important. It was liberating! I found that limiting our possessions to what was truly useful and loved was so much better… {read more}
We Don’t Do “Chores”… We Do “Family Service” Instead
Over the past few months, my husband and I have been concentrating on helping the kids become more involved in household duties. At some point we simply realised that they were perfectly capable of doing more around the house and we figured giving them some tasks would do a number of things including: -Foster more personal… {read more}
