The Kids of Integrity Challenge is finished!

Beginning lessons on kindness

Well, we finally finished our 100-square Gentleness Quilt and, as promised, went bowling and had ice cream sundaes to mark the event. Kids of Integrity is helping us realize we must learn to rejoice over any and all positive effort put out by our kids. Too often we offer verbal encouragement but do nothing further to cheer their hard-earned gains. Life is too short; our family plans to embrace a deep and consistent spirit of celebration!

Rob and I were about to start the Honesty lesson, but God changed our path and we’re doing Kindness instead. Has anyone out there done this lesson yet? If you have tips or ideas, please, please share! We love hearing what other parents come up with.

Once again our memory verses are short and sweet. We took Luke 6:31 and Ephesians 4:32 out of the Contemporary English Version this time for clearest wording. Rob and I have found freedom in shortening and simplifying as required. We are realizing that it’s more important for Ben and Jessica to enjoy and understand the main idea rather than memorize a letter-perfect long verse and hate every minute of it.

We loved the flag idea from the Kids’ Corner activity, but, frankly, having everyone do ONE kind thing per day to get their flag in the holder didn’t seem like enough. We thought about making several flags for each family member, but in the end decided on a “flag pole” of sorts. We took four long bootlaces and tacked each on the top and bottom of a door in our kitchen so they stretched the full height of the door. I stuck colourful electrical tape beside each and marked 10 vertical increments. We then each decorated our own card-stock flag. Each flag is stapled around one of the bootlaces and we can slide them up and down (see picture).

Now, each of us may not do 10 nice things every day, but we are encouraging each other to work at achieving a personal best. It was made very clear that we are not racing against each other, only against ourselves. We just started yesterday, and it was fascinating to see the kids realize that if their parents’ flags were going to move, they would have to acknowledge our kindness. It was as if a light bulb went on and they saw our thoughtful acts for the first time! We think it’s fantastic that they are not only being encouraged to show compassion themselves but to also recognize it in others.

The Bible story of David, Abigail and Nabal went over really well. We did it on a longer drive, and the kids were spellbound. There was plenty of action, and it was a neat way to introduce the concept of allowing God to repay wrong instead of taking matters into our own hands.

Tomorrow we start our “Random Acts of Kindness Week.” Each family member will offer ideas on whom and how we will serve. We’re all excited about finding neat ways to bless others.

Tags:

• Kindness