World Kindness Day (Week)

Last weekend, Heather wrote a great post with ideas for celebrating World Kindness Day.  I normally love Heather anyway, but I especially loved this post!  It was just the inspiration I needed to plan some ways to spread kindness this week.

I shared a couple of things I was hoping to do for World Kindness Day in my Twosday post earlier this week.  On Tuesday afternoon the girls and I made cookies to share with friends and coworkers.  I thought I was setting myself up for a kindness filled day on Wednesday.  Then I didn't sleep well Tuesday night and on Wednesday I was so tired.  After reading Miss A some books before her rest, I curled up on the couch with some blankets.  Miss A normally doesn't nap, so I figured I would rest for a bit until she needed something.  That didn't happen.  Somehow Miss A and I both fell asleep, and Little J took an extra long nap.  I ended up sleeping for 3 hours.  Not what I had planned to do with my afternoon.

I normally resist naps because I wake up still feeling tired, and often cranky.  Plus nap time is my work time.  So I wasn't happy with myself when I realized I had slept for 3 hours when I had so many other things to do.  I had kind things I wanted to do.  Then I decided that as a part of World Kindness Day I would be kind to myself, and not beat myself up for taking that nap.  I needed the sleep, and taking a nap probably helped me show more kindness to my little ones on Wednesday night.  (Also, after I was feeling guilty about not getting things done on Wednesday, this post from Diana helped me get rid of that guilt!)

So I didn't get everything on my list done on Wednesday.  It took me most of the week to accomplish my World Kindness Day projects.  But I completed many kind acts this week.  They made me happy, and hopefully spread some happiness to others too. 

Here's what I did...

• Shared Heather's post on Facebook and Twitter (and inspired at least one other person to participate in World Kindness Day too!)
• Brought cookies to work to share with coworkers
• Shared a cookies with a student who was celebrating his birthday
• Packed snacks for 3 amazing coworkers/friends who are currently taking Saturday classes 
• Sent 2 long overdue notes, 2 (interesting looking) owl projects and 1 early birthday card to friends
• Shared extra owl craft materials with 2 sets of sisters
• Sent 13 postcards to families of students who showed big improvements in meeting the learning goals for my class over the past week
• Wrote a positive chalk message on the sidewalk in front of our house (I wrote, "Have a great day! Miss A told me she wrote, "Have an even better day!" A perfect example of how sweet yet sassy she can be.  Also, we left the chalk out while we were taking a break, and one of our neighbors added, "You too!"  adding extra kindness to the block!)

And I don't plan to stop with this.  I've been working to make sharing kindness a part of my daily/weekly routine, and it has been a great addition to my days!