Simple Acts of Kindness

Posted by Molly

My son Mac had a birthday the weekend before school started.   He had a really fun Olympic themed birthday party with a ton of children.  He invited all the kids from his kindergarten class and all of their siblings (which is a lot when you send your child to Catholic school!) plus two neighborhood friends and his two cousins.  I was a little worried that his neighborhood buddies and his cousins might end up being left out since almost everyone else at the party was a school friend  I kept looking around throughout the party to make sure they were being included.  Then half way through the evening, my niece, Bella, came running over to ask me something and then ran off holding hands and giggling with Mac's friend, Lexie.  They had known each other for all of forty five minutes and yet they seemed as thick as thieves.  I turned to the other moms around me and said "Did you see that?  Those two girls just met!  Why can't we all be like that?  When do we get so indifferent?"


Yesterday was the first day of school for Mac as a first grader.  When I picked him up and we ducked out the door to leave, a little boy from across the hall in the kindergarten classroom looked at him, hesitated for a minute and then yelled "bye Mac!" and waved with a huge smile.  Mac looked back and smiled and yelled bye to the boy, someone I am sure he did not know before that day.  I asked him "how do you know that kindergarten boy?" and he said "well, when I was in kindergarten, I liked it when the older kids talked to me so I made sure I talked to some kindergartners today."  Wow. 

In life as an adult, I often feel too busy to stop and talk to someone.  And I often feel snubbed by people too busy or too uninterested to talk to me.  Why as adults do we harden so much?  Why do we lose the pure joy of wanting to be friendly to everyone?  Why can't we hold onto the innocent kindness we had as children?

The day after Mac's birthday party my cousin Renee called me to say that her kids had a great time and Bella, especially, loved making so many new friends.  Yesterday as that little kindergartner left school I saw the big smile on his face and I know part of the reason for that smile was that he felt special because a first grader took the time to befriend him.  These are the little moments in life that make childhood special.  Let's take our children's lead and try to emulate their behavior in our adult lives.  How hard is it to smile at someone you recognize but maybe don't know well?  How hard is it to introduce yourself to the people you see every week at church or school?   Every day I witness the joy that being nice brings my children.  This year I'm going to try to be more like them.  I challenge you to do the same.