Monday, June 22, 2015

Week 39: Balloons Bring Big Smiles


School is out for summer!  For millions of children in the United States it means freedom from getting up early and having homework.  Unfortunately, it also means that those children now need to tag along while their parents run errands.

Running errands isn't anything new to my children since they're homeschooled, but it certainly doesn't make them immune from complaining about being bored and asking how many more stops we have to make before heading home.

This week's Kindness Countdown activity was to help frazzled parents dealing with bored children at the busiest errand location I could think of:  Costco.

I purchased $40 in helium balloons from my local grocery store and drove them over to Costco. (After a quick stop to take the above picture :)  I planned this random act of kindness to occur at lunch time; there is no worse time to run errands with kids...I know this from experience.

My children and I caught infectious smiles after seeing the joy on the children's faces who cheerfully accepted the balloons!  To bring a child that much happiness...it was an amazing feeling!  And equally rewarding were the knowing looks of gratitude I received from the parents.

This activity quickly became one of my favorites.  And after 39 weeks of acts of kindness, that's saying a lot.

I'll definitely be doing this again in the future! 

"Nobody can be uncheered with a balloon." - Winnie the Pooh

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