I don’t know if it is by chance or by design that Random Acts of Kindness Day (February 17th) happens just a few days from our annual celebration of love, but I find it quite fitting. Sometimes holidays like Christmas, Easter, and Valentines Day make me a little cranky—the expectations, the baking, the cooking, the cleaning, the crafting, the shopping, the parties, the gifts, the goodie bags—OH, the goodie bags! Am I the only one who gets a little stressed out by the typical holiday hoopla? Instead of all that, I see no better way to celebrate February than to spread some love around with Random Acts of Kindness.
In case you aren’t familiar with the idea, a RAoK is simply a selfless act of kindness usually done to a stranger, though at our house, we include going out of your way to do something nice for people you know too. It can totally turn around a crummy day for me if the person ahead of me in the Starbucks drive-thru pays for my coffee or someone at the grocery checkout sees I only have three items and lets me go in front of her.
While receiving is really nice, giving is even better. For my kids, it has been so fun to plan and even sneak around to plant some acts of kindness for unsuspecting kids and adults. Plus, what a feeling of empowerment to know even though you’re “only a kid,” you can do something that will make such an impact on a person’s mood, attitude, or even their whole day! Aside from being fun, that’s what I really want my kids to learn from our acts of kindness—to be thoughtful and kind to others, to remember the many blessings we have that not everyone does, and to understand that they really do have the power to make a difference in the world through their actions both large and small.
Here are some ideas for Random Acts of Kindness that your kids can do on their own or with a little help from you on February 17th or anytime they want to spread some love into the world.
1. Smile and say hello to five strangers in a day.
2. Be observant and a give genuine compliments to someone each day.
3. Leave a friendly note or homemade bookmark in a library book.
4. Leave a sheet of stickers in a library book.
5. Pass out bottles of bubbles at the park.
6. Carry small, toddler appropriate toys in your diaper bag or purse for your kids to hand out to impatient kids at the grocery, doctor’s office, or anywhere there is lots of waiting. Dollar store party favors like sunglasses, mini play-doh, rubber figures, or mini slinkies work well.
7. Write a note or draw a picture and send to a grandparent.
8. Write notes or draw pictures and drop off for residents of a nursing home.
9. Put quarters in a bunch of the carts at Aldi.
10. Take a walk down a street with parking meters and put quarters in those that are expired or about to expire.
11. Candy bomb the cars in a parking lot. (Just be sure it’s not raining and the candy won’t make a mess. Cleaning is NOT kind!)
12. Do a chore for someone in your house.
13. Read a book to a younger sibling, cousin, neighbor, or friend.
14. Let your kids help make a double batch of dinner. Then offer to drop off the extra to someone who could use a break—a family with a new baby or a sick grandparent, a family where one parent travels out of town for work, or a family that’s been dealing with illness.
15. Deliver a package of new, sharpened pencils, boxes of crayons or markers, or packages of glue sticks to a teacher.
16. Write a note to a teacher telling them how much you appreciate all that they do for you.
17. Leave a box of cookies and a thank you note in the mailbox for your mail carrier.
18. Send a thank you note to your police officers and fire fighters for all their hard work keeping us safe.
19. Leave a treat on your neighbor’s porch, ring the bell, and run away. Maybe include a note that says, “We’re lucky you’re our neighbors!”
20. Take some hot chocolate to construction workers working outside in the cold.
21. Hold a door open for someone who has their hands full.
22. Take a walk around your neighborhood and pick up litter.
23. Bring in your neighbor’s trashcans after garbage has been collected.
24. Go through your books and choose some to give away. Leave them where kids will find them (pediatrician, dentist, hospital) with a note that says, “If you like me, take me with you!”
25. When you go somewhere fun like the museum, zoo, or park, invite along a friend who might not get to go there very often.
