As parents, we read “How Full Is Your Bucket?” We teach the concept of paying it forward. We try!! BUT the most influential way to help our kids make the world a better place is to show them how WE pay it forward and let them experience helping others. Are we a good example? Through our actions are we unconsciously teaching our kids an unfair frustration and intolerance for others?

A few months ago I was in the Starbucks drive thru line and when I got up to the window the drive thru girl said “You’re good ma’am, the woman in front of you paid for your coffee this morning.” I said great! I will do the same! Two things…I can’t stand when people call me ma’am! Do I look like a ma’am??? Already? Really?? And the other thing , After handing the girl my credit card I saw the huge black Lincoln Navigator in my rearview and thought …Oh no! What if they ordered 8 drinks and 8 breakfast sandwiches??? No worries, it was a totally normal order thank goodness!!

I took that opportunity to explain to my kids how the person paid for my coffee and I paid for the person behind me. My 4 year old, Brady, said nobody got me anything and my 2 year old, Bella, said Yea, I want chocolate milk! But maybe some of it sunk in???

But really it is not the kids’ understanding a concept it is their experiencing that feeling…when you do even the littlest special something for someone else. The smiles on their faces, their eyes welled up with tears, the topic of conversation at dinner being what they did for someone else. The excitement to think about how they can pay it forward again. That is how we shape and mold them. Let them feel it not just know what they should do.

“Do small things with great love”- Mother Teresa

Need some cool ideas?

Check out this article I found on Kids Activities Blog:

Teaching Kids to Pay it Forward {Acts of Kindness}
http://kidsactivitiesblog.com/23983/teaching-kids