Hello inspired readers!
With Christmas drawing near, I’ve been brainstorming ideas for an advent calendar, and “25 Days of Kindness” advent calendar was born, with the major themes of: being kind to others, to the environment and to yourself.
- Put toys away
- Help with house chore
- Help shovel neighbor’s snow
- Pick up trash and dispose properly
- Go through pantry and pick out food donation items
- Go through toys and pick out donation items
- Donate clothes and accessories
- Volunteer
- Make a Christmas card
- Read a book on kindness
- Give a hug
- Kiss a boo boo better
- Introduce yourself to a new friend in class
- Participate in a Toy Drive event
- Learn to say “hello” in another language
- Donate coins
- Sing a song for grandparent(s)
- Make gifts for classmates
- Turn lights off when not in use
- Conserve water
- Wrap presents with kids’ own art paper
- Donate books and DVDs to local library
- Say thank you
- Tell yourself “I did it”
- Practice kindness every day
A FREE downloadable pdf of the above 25 acts of kindness in Vietnamese called "25 Ngày Tử Tế" is made available for you. I hope it finds a place in your home; get creative with different arts and crafts ideas with it. Most importantly, implement some of these ideas. I'll share my personal favorite. Our daughter has been struggling at her new preschool, crying at drop off for every day for over a month. One day I decided to try prompting her to say "annyeonghaseyo" (hello in Korean) to her Korean teacher. We had taught her "annyeonghaseyo" to greet her previous day home teachers, but I had almost forgotten about it . Her teacher was just delighted to hear our 3-yo say it. And she switched back to her happy self, no more crying at drop off!
If you are looking for books on Kindness (Day 10), here are titles available on VietCan Books online store:
1. Be Kind by Pat Zietlow Miller
2. Bilingual The Kindest Fairy Tales | Truyện Cổ Tích Tử Tế by Alicia Vu
3. Each Breath a Smile (bilingual) | Mỗi Hơi Thở Một Nụ Cười (Song ngữ) by Thích Nhật Hạnh
4. The Doll by Nhung N. Tran-Davies
5. Chúng Mình Tôn Trọng Cơ Thể Và Cảm Xúc Của Nhau by Jayneen Sanders
5. Voi Ho-Tơn Ấp Trứng by Dr. Seuss
6. Con Gà Đẻ Trứng Vàng by Thích Nhất Hạnh
Please share your stories by email or tag us at @vietcanbooks on IG!
Happy reading!
Tam