Kindness

I have been thinking a lot about kindness lately. I have been using the word often with my kids and praising Maya for being kind and correcting when unkind. I have been especially nervous about her going off to preschool without me there to remind her to be kind. If you have ever been around Maya, you know she has some major attitude that is NOT kind! :)

Today we met Jeremy for lunch. After eating, the kids were in the play area playing and this is what we saw and heard:

Maya walked up to 2 girls, "Can I play with you?"
"NO!" they said, "We are playing with each other."
So she walked on to 2 boys, "Can I play with you?"
"NO!" they said, "We are playing alone."
She ran off and ended up playing by herself or with Kenyon and was fine.

After we got home, I asked her what happened at the play area today when she asked the kids to play. She said, "They told me no and it made me sad!"
Here came the teaching moment :), "So what do you say when someone asks to play?"
She passed - "Sure!" she said.
"What if you are at church and you and Grace are playing a game and Kinsley wants to play?"
"Sure!" she said.
Yeah! I praised her and we talked about how Jesus loves everyone and wants us to play with everyone. That is the kind thing to do!

So after I tucked her into bed tonight, I started thinking. Am I always kind? Does she see kindness in me? Do I speak kind to people at the supermarket that critique me for having 2 young children or for being a transracial family? Is kindness always shown to Jeremy when he comes home after a long day at work? When one of the kids spill food for the 5th time and we are only at breakfast, am I kind?

I think I need a kindness reminder as I start this year just as much as my little ones!

P.S. I know that was sappy and I am not usually the sappy type, but rest assured, my next post will not be sappy - a disc with some freakin' cute pics of my kiddos is on its way in the mail and will be posted very soon!