Kindness Keeper

In celebration of Michael!
In the effort to bring my family together, motivate the good stuff and all around bring attention to details I enacted a competition. Everyone in the house would strive to be the kindest possible for the remainder of the year (as this started the last 12 days of 2011). I made a chart with all our names (Mommy and Daddy included) and copies for each car and house (Gma and G's plus ours). Everytime someone did or said something nice they could be given a mark from anyone. There also was a column for the opposite actions. My theory was that you cannot be mean without leaving a lasting mark for the other person so you should get credit for that too. Then after the time was up we subtracted the bad from the good and landed a winner. The winner was King/Queen for a day. They did not have any chores, and were to be served for that small amount of time. I wanted that reward!
My dear friend happened to be in town for 8 days of that time and she competed along with us which was fun too. Littlest loved giving marks even though she netted more bad marks than good but nonetheless it was good for her even. In the end the child who I would have bet as the winner did win. It was not a landslide though interesting enough. #1 kicked into gear the last 36 hours in an attempt to catch up. #3 enjoyed his King time on a Friday after school. Why not a weekend day, well he was desperate to get out of chores enough so he gave up half a day of special treatment. I don't believe I got as many marks as I deserved since kids were not zealous about rewarding mom and dad the same.
Since then it seems that I believe this can translate into working towards focusing on various traits, skills and actions holisticly. Right now we are focusing on polite words and actions. This includes please and thankyou, opening doors and allowing people to go first. Whatever it is works as long as it is solely polite things. I am trying to hone in on this certain trait. I plan on making a badge for the winner to get to keep in their painted treasure box. This way they have material things to remind them of the actions we cannot touch. Plus some friendly competition never hurts the bonding of family.
I wish I could say I had some fancy printable for you to download to do your self but I don't. If I make one which I need to I will add later. I hope this inspires you to focus on the little things in your homes. It is after all the little stuff that makes the big stuff.

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