Kindness

I have been concerned as I observe how my children interact with each other and with their friends lately. So for our morning devotional yesterday we sang "Kindness Begins With Me" and then we read "Friendship Bracelets". It's a great story about a little girl who learns to be kind and love her friend even when her friend was being unkind to her. We discussed the article and then we made friendship bracelets from embrodiery floss. I just braided the floss for the little ones while they held it and I'm teaching the older ones how to make their own friendship bracelets. This link leads to a site that has pretty detailed instructions and I figured it out in about 15 minutes...but I like that kind of stuff : ) We talked about how the bracelet can serve as a reminder to be kind to everyone and to be the kind of friend you would like to have. Later in the day, I was able to gently refer to what the bracelet signified to help them make better choices and it was effective. The devotional helped to remind me about "You, Not Them" and how I need to remember that "Kindness Begins With Me"!