We are spreading kindness this month through our 100 Acts of Kindness project. We are challenging our readers to perform 100 acts of kindness between Jan 16th and Feb 14th. You can read more about our kindness challenge here. Many of our blogging friends have joined the challenge and will be sharing ways that you can spread kindness here and on their blogs. Today we are privileged to have Joyce from Dinosaurs and Octopuses as our guest blogger. Her post goes perfectly along with Kindness Challenge #2- Choose five ways to give love to relatives. Welcome Joyce!
When I first learned about the 100 Acts Of Kindness Challenge, I spoke with my son and asked him for ideas. When I asked him who he'd like to do something for, he quickly replied "daddy!" And his daddy does deserve an extra special effort. I'm a stay at home mom, and I place importance on appreciating my husband. R knows that his daddy works, sometimes long hours, so that I may stay home with him. What he does is appreciated and we should certainly show it more often.
Parents deserve recognition regardless of whether or not they work outside of the home, but I wanted to share ideas for working parents because this is our situation. I'm aware that not everyone has the same situation, and many of these ideas can work for various family dynamics. Here are our suggestions.
Five easy ways to show a working parent your appreciation and love.
1. Quite possibly the easiest way for your child to be kind and show their love would be to call the parent at work. If a phone call at work isn't possible, maybe they could leave a sweet voice mail to be listened to later. Anything from a simple "I miss you" to a cute little song. My husband loves hearing from us, when possible. It lets him know that even though he isn't with us, we are thinking about him.
2. Have your child make a card to slip into their lunchbox, bag, or car before they leave for work. R's favorite thing to do with his daddy is play computer games, so he decided to draw a picture of a computer on the front of his card. Inside the card, I wrote his message word for word. We will tuck this into his dad's lunchbox for a nice surprise.
3. Send a joke. Find a joke that relates to their profession or simply one you know they'd love. It's an easy way to make their day a little brighter.
4. Take a picture of your child holding a sign that says "I Love You" or "I Miss You" and have it printed to wallet size. Sneak it into their wallet or purse for them to discover later. This idea is sure to bring a smile to their face. It's a nice and unexpected surprise. And it costs less than a dollar!
5. Finish off the day by making a special dinner or dessert. Help your child plan a menu you know the recipient will love and cook it together.
These are suggestions that really show that you care, but don't require much planning or money. You could combine them all into one special day, do one for each work day, or spread them out over time. Either way, you'll be making someone special very happy.
Do you have any ideas to add to this list?
What have you helped your children do in the past?
What have been your favorite gestures to receive?
Thanks Joyce for stopping by and sharing these great ideas! We don't do enough kind things for my hard-working husband! These are great ideas to use for working parents, grandparents, siblings, etc. Make sure to stop by Dinosaurs and Octopuses and check out some of Joyce's other great posts. I love her recent post about Creating a Space for Dress Up Play and her Snowman Salt Art.
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Joyce is a stay at home mom of one four year old boy. She writes about her adventures in play and her adventures in parenting over at Dinosaurs And Octopuses. She enjoys finding new ways to play and learn, and loves to pass along her favorites. She shares a hodgepodge of activities, crafts, and recipes.
If you've missed any of our kindness challenge posts so far, you can catch up by clicking the links below:
100 Acts of Kindness Project 2012 Intro post
Kindness Challenge #1: Saying Thank You
Whoopie Pie Love {via Red Ted Art}
Jar of Hearts {via The Outlaw Mom}
Rainbow Painting Surprise {via Glittering Muffins}
Winter Warm Up {via Kitchen Counter Chronicles}
Kindness Challenge #2: Show Love to Relatives {via Living Montessori Now)
Stayed tuned for a guest post by Deborah Stewart from Teach Preschool tomorrow!
Working moms could use some love too!
Great ideas! Since I just stopped working (well, 6 months ago), I never thought of how much the working parent gets left out until more recently and have been starting to think of ways to show our Daddy how much we love him – we'll have to use some of your ideas!
I hadn't thought about our phone calls to dad. Thank you for the reminder!
Great suggestions! One year for Valentine's day we made a list of all the things the kids love about their dad =)
They also love to talk to him on the phone on business trips, and Emma writes him notes nearly every day!
Thank you, Maryanne. I bet that made him feel really special! And I'm glad your family has found ways to connect even over business trips. That's so sweet that she writes him so often!
Thank you so much for allowing me to guest post. I appreciate the opportunity to be included in your pages! I've really been enjoying this project. And so has my son. And well, obviously my husband is benefiting from it. Haha. Thank you!
Great post, Joyce!! Our daughter sends my husband texts messages which means it's jibberish to my husband but I help translate. 😉 He sometimes stop by his work to say hello. He doesn't really have time to talk to use since he is a pharmacist and doesn't get breaks, but he enjoys seeing us even if only for a quick hug.
I love the text message idea! That's really cute. I like to stop by and say hi to my husband when he's in town as well. It's never a long visit… but I think visits like that mean more. When you make the effort for what you know will be a small amount of time. It shows how important even a glimpse is. Thanks so much for sharing!
Great post Joyce love your ideas!
These are such cute ideas! My husband also works long and hard so I may stay home. He loves getting phone calls during his lunch break, getting "we missed you" "we love you" "welcome home" signs taped to the front door, and even a super yummy special dinner created by his favorite girls just to let him know we care and appreciate him
I totally forgot that we use to hang up signs! Thanks for reminding me, Aleacia. I'm so glad other families do that. And I'm sure the special dinner is really appreciated. That made me smile.
These are such great ideas! We have picked up one of my husband's favorite candy bars for him on occasion and left it for him to find after work. We tend to do this when we know he's having a bad day just to cheer him up a bit. He always appreciates it!
Thank you, Terri! I bet your husband does appreciate that. That's really sweet! And simple enough to do just about any time. Great way to make him feel loved!