When my oldest was younger a friend recommended a book that had a big impact on the way I’d remind my kids to be kind. It’s called “Have you Filled a Bucket Today?” The premise of the book is that we all have buckets. When we do something kind for someone else, it helps fill that person’s bucket and our own. When we are mean, rude, or unkind in any way it then dips from that person’s bucket and our own. Often you can tell how full a person’s bucket is by their demeanor. If they are looking sad, you can know that their bucket is low and that is an invitation to fill their bucket.
I love the simplicity of this explanation as it shows so well why we feel good when we are kind and fill someone else’s bucket! Also how we really feel bad when we’ve been unkind and dipped from someone’s bucket.
This has become a mantra in our house. Have you filled a bucket today?? Did you fill their bucket or dip from it? How can you make it better? In new situations I would often walk in with my kids and ask them to look around the room and see if there is any way to fill a bucket in that room. Sometimes that would mean sitting next to someone that is alone, just saying, “hello,” or even picking up trash on the floor and throwing it away.
We’ve asked at dinnertime, “In what ways have you filled buckets today?” or, “Did anyone have their bucket filled by someone else today?”
We’ve given this book out for baby showers, at 5th birthday parties, and as teacher’s gifts. With all the tumult in the world I feel like it is too easy to get caught up in our own buckets. So if I can teach my little crew to pay attention to the buckets of those around them, then I feel like I am making a difference in the world!
Start them when they’re young, restart them when they’re older and snarky, remind them when they’re big!! May we be a force for good in this beautiful world!
So tell me, how will you fill a bucket today!?!
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Kayleen
