A great family activity this summer would be to work on doing random acts of kindness. It doesn’t have to cost anything except a little time and effort, and the rewards are so worth it, not only to the recipients, but also to you and your family. Your children will be having fun, but at the same time, will be learning compassion and service to others. There are quite a few websites that offer lots of suggestions for random acts of kindness.
IT’S ON THE CALENDAR!
Coffee Cups and Crayons is a website written by “kid blogger” Megan. It is full of terrific ideas on how to work on random acts of kindness with your children. There are printables like a chart of 100 Acts of Kindness for Kids and acts of kindness calendars for the summer months. I love her four- week plan that has a different theme for each week such as “awesome acts of kindness for seniors, a love rock challenge, a kindness board game and a box of love! Your children are sure to be engaged and excited for each week’s plan. CLICK HERE to visit this amazing site.
RAKS ARE GOOD FOR YOUR HEALTH
Another good site I found is the Good Housekeeping one in the health and wellness tab. It has a list entitled “50 Ways to Give and Get Joy”. Yes, there are healthy benefits for being kind and happy. According to Dr. David Hamilton, performing an act of kindness releases oxytocin, a brain chemical that surges when you hold a baby or snuggle your dog, and temporarily lowers your blood pressure. Acts of kindness from your heart also help your heart .It is definitely a win-win situation! You can find many good ideas for random acts of kindness as well as the names of other websites dealing with RAK. CLICK HERE for all the details.
AND THERE’S MORE!
I love everything about Sigrid Chu’s blog! She is a storyteller who explores “life lessons to help inspire her readers to live a meaningful life.” She says acts of kindness have the power to change and heal the world. There are 50 suggested acts of kindness on her site, but what sets hers apart from others, is that she starts out with acts of kindness you can (and should) do for yourself such as show yourself some love, learn how to say no to additional work and commitments when you are already feeling overwhelmed, and practice self-care. I think you would enjoy reading her thoughts and suggestions. CLICK HERE to check it out.
BE A RAKTIVIST
RAKtivists are those people who “live and breathe kindness, share knowledge and lead by example” according to the random acts of kindness official website. It says RAKtivists “leave a trail of warm and fuzzy feelings in their wake.” You can sign up to be a RAKtivist and participate in monthly kindness missions and become a part of the global kindness community. All the details are on their website. CLICK HERE to read all about it.
As I have been researching and writing about RAK, I keep thinking about the song called “What the World Needs Now Is Love, Sweet Love. That is so true, maybe now more than ever before. I think Sir Paul McCartney said it best when he said. “The love you take is the love you make.” Enjoy spreading the love with your families because “no act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted”. (Aesop)
