Driving to work this week, I heard a woman talking about an initiative that she had undertaken – which has developed into a book and a website, doonenicething.com.  It’s a bit of the “Pay it Forward” strategy – all about sharing kindness with others.  Whether it is taking ice water to a road crew on a hot day, or writing a letter to the troops in Iraq, she has set Monday as the day to do something nice for someone else, no matter what that may be.

That got me thinking….as I’m always struggling with defining (and then executing) a community engagement project for my family.  I’m always feeling remiss as a mom, because I’m not doing a better job of involving my kids in meaningful community projects.  But after working close to full time and managing four children’s schedules, it seems like I’m always coming up short on time.

So listening to this woman speak got me thinking.  This approach “to do just one nice thing” could be a great family project to undertake.  Making each child cognizant of the importance of reaching out to others and sharing their stories would be a great way to get each of us doing meaningful things for others, and each child, even my four year old, could be empowered to take and execute this charge all on their own.  

Ideas to execute?  Helping a neighbor carry groceries inside, holding the door, writing letters and drawing pictures for grandparents, picking up trash in the neighborhood, etc…..I could envision a chart, where each child could keep track of their nice deeds.  

I’m really liking this idea.  I’ll have to report out in a few weeks to let you know if we’ve achieved a measure of success!.