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Hey y’all!

Is it blowing your mind too, that it’s already October?
The last couple months have been such a whirlwind that most of it was a blur. It feels like there has been a 101 changes in my life, from my baby starting school, giving up sugar by doctors orders, losing my BRCA2 study support, getting released from my special job working with the youth at my church, and everything in between.  I feel like I have been living in the eye of a change tornado and it has been survival mode at it’s best. My children have been acting like terrorists, I can’t sleep, I have been an emotional wreck, and there is a feeling of sadness and contention hovering over my home.

I’m ready for a good change, one I choose myself.

In that vein I’ve decided to start something a little fun here on Gypsy Magpie, a series called, “Family Focus”.
Every first Friday of the month, I will post a new quality, value, characteristic, talent, or trait that my family will be working on. These posts will be full of ideas for how to teach and play with that month’s theme. I’m not going to give an exact plan because every family is different and their needs are unique to them. These posts will just be a little kickoff to help us all get in focus.
Oh, and to get our creative juices flowing, I will be creating a Pinterest board each month with the new focus and filling it with ideas and fun.

Now that our introductions are over, let’s get down to the nitty gritty!

October’s theme is…

Yep, that’s right folks!

Kindness

It seems that in the midst of all the craziness around here, my family and I seem to have lost the ability to be kind.
Our tone and words have been harsh and our thoughts have been completely centered on ourselves. I guess that happens from time to time, survival mode will do that to ya. I don’t know about your fam, but mine needs to work on treating each other with love. I’m not saying we are awful, horrible, or rotten all the time. Some days our home really feels like a bit of heaven on earth. But, like most families some days we struggle. The goal here is simple, to increase the number of good vibes and rein in the not-so-good ones.

Occasionally, we all need a little reminder to be nice.
A “nice” little party complete with some kindness confetti sounds good to me!

To get started-

• Say a prayer and ask how your family can better focus this month on kindness. A little personal inspiration will help you figure out how to create lessons, plan activities, and set the tone.
• Create an idea folder or your own Kindness Pinterest board where you can keep your thoughts and plans together.
• Look for teaching moments and use them! So Jack smacked another kid on the bus and you got a nasty call from the school. What can you learn from this and how can you use this experience to teach kindness? This stuff is happening in some way or another each and every day, recognize it and use it to teach.
• Plan activities according to your schedule. In our family every Monday night is set aside for “Family Night”. This is our time to be together. We have a short lesson or read from the scriptures, do a family activity, and eat a yummy treat. If you don’t have regular family time, create it! If Thursday is the only night everyone is under the same roof, make it sacred! Your family night doesn’t need to be long. Make it simple and tailor it to your family’s specific needs. Maybe the only time you have together is when you go to Bree’s soccer game. Why not plan a random act of kindness to sneak and do before you load up to go home once the game is through?
  Make it work for your fam!
• Reminders: This is a big one for me. Set reminders on your phone, on your to do list, on your mirrors, whatever you need to do to remember what you are focused on this month.

Act-

Just thinking about it isn’t going to get you anywhere. Once you’ve developed your game plan, it’s time to play!
Here are some fun ideas to get your creative juices flowing.

Lessons

Here is an object lesson about how our words affect others from Corkboard Connections.
I know it is geared for a classroom, but isn’t that what our homes are anyway, a family school? You could totally tailor this lesson to work with your own family at home instead of as teachers and students.

via Corkboard Connections

Meaningful Mama cleverly used Dominos to teach her kids about kindness.
Check out her wonderful idea HERE along with several others at the bottom of her post.

via Meaningful Mama

Activities

Coffee Cups and Crayons came up with a huge list of acts of kindness ideas, 100 in fact!
Find that HERE.

The Hello Happiness Card Company is a blast to follow on Instagram. If you don’t follow them, you need to! I have fallen in love with the simple kind things they do. If you want to read Josh’s thoughts on why he is choosing to do what he does, you can find that HERE on his blog. I mean seriously! How rad is this dad?
If you ever happen to read this, you are inspiring Josh!

I adore his idea of writing happy thoughts on rocks and hiding them for someone else to find.
I have 3 girls that I know would totally get into it!

via Hello Happiness Card Co

Books

Chapter Books…

The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes and Charlie’s Monument by Blaine M. Yorgason are two books on kindness that I love.

• You can learn more about our first experience reading The Hundred Dresses HERE.
• And, after reading Charlie’s Monument, you can visit a replica of that beloved monument with your family by going HERE.

Kid’s Books…

Have You Filled a Bucket Today is a Mom’s Choice Award winner.

Don’t the Berenestain Bears just remind you of being a kid?
Their adventure with the Golden Rule is great for young children.

Visual Aids

I’m finding that in order to keep Kindness in focus, we need visual reminders, so I quickly created some and placed them around our home. Please note, I am not nor do I claim to be a chalkboard artist so don’t make fun of my “art” alrighty?

It’s not about being perfect, remember?

Side note: As soon as canning is over and I give the desk and 2 tables in my garage new life, that decade old creamy wall color is going bye-bye. Yes, hubby, you have been officially warned.

Quotes

You can find a ton of awesome scriptures, quotes, and sayings on kindness by searching Pinterest.
Find what motivates or inspires you and go crazy with it!

*Speaking of Pinterest, here is October’s Focus Board!

Printables

This sweet printable from Kids Activities Blog makes me smile.
I’m thinking I’m going to have my kids choose a name of one of their siblings out of a hat and then have them fill this out then give it to them.

So, are you feeling inspired to throw around
some kindness confetti of your own?

If you decide to join the party, I’d love you to comment and tell me what you do!
Oh, and if you create your own Kindness Pinterest board, please leave me a link in the comments so I can check it out!