Last week\u2019s \u201cassignment\u201d <\/a>was to brainstorm with our kids and start a kindness calendar for the year along with jumping right in and doing a random act of kindness.<\/p>\n We found that acts of kindness were not hard to come by. \u00a0Throughout the week we easily stumbled upon 4 different acts of kindness among the four members of our family. \u00a0These included helping a stranger in need, spreading joy among our family members (one daughter made us an \u201cI love you\u201d note and hung it on our bedroom door as a surprise) and intentionally trying to make a couple friends smile.<\/p>\n But, I threw the kindness calendar out the window… I just didn\u2019t feel like we\u2019re ready yet to plan a whole year of projects. \u00a0I felt more comfortable with a list so we started brainstorming ideas.<\/p>\n It looks like this…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n (by the way… there are more ideas – but certainly not 52… and the snowman is a craft project – not an actual melting snowman… lol).<\/em><\/p>\n I realized that we could easily continue with doing kind deeds whenever the need arises but I also wondered whether I could do anything to make this somewhat more of a creative challenge – to get our family thinking outside of our own experiences and coming up with new ideas.<\/p>\n Expanding our \u201ckindness literacy\u201d so to speak…<\/em><\/p>\n How could I challenge the kids to be creative and think of new ways to help those around us? \u00a0What could I do to challenge myself to research new ideas and be more intentional? \u00a0How could I make sure that this project remains \u201cfun\u201d and does not become \u201csame old, same old\u201d every week… I mean after all, there are only so many times we can pay for the person behind us in the drive through before the kids are bored and done (that is their #1 most exciting idea on their list).<\/p>\n That leads me to our new Project 52 Kindness Word of the Week!<\/em><\/p>\n I thought, \u201cHow cool would it be to give the kids a word each week<\/a> that challenges them to think of a kindness project inspired by that word?\u201d \u00a0Most Project 52 photography projects have a weekly theme or prompt and I\u2019d been trying to figure out whether a weekly theme would work with this one – since the needs of our communities might vary. \u00a0After spending a week brainstorming with the kids and coming up with a small list of the same ideas over and over I KNOW this will be a great addition to our project!<\/p>\n Each week I\u2019ll post a prompt – a word of the week<\/a> – to push<\/em> us to brainstorm beyond our original list and come up with ideas we might not have otherwise considered.<\/p>\n My hope is that these weekly words will be a fun challenge<\/em> for our whole family – a way to expand our \u201ckindness literacy\u201d as we<\/p>\n brainstorm…<\/em><\/p>\n research…<\/em><\/p>\n discover…<\/em><\/p>\n and create…<\/em><\/p>\n …new ideas to satisfy the weekly prompt.<\/p>\n I\u2019ll post each week\u2019s new word here and keep a running list on a separate page<\/a> for anyone who starts late or gets behind and wants to catch up.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n How can you use a mailbox to spread kindness, create joy or serve others?<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n I hope you will all join me in this week\u2019s challenge and then next week we\u2019ll have a great number of new kindness ideas we can add to our running lists<\/a> that other families can be inspired to try! \u00a0Be creative! \u00a0Follow the prompt as closely or as loosely as you desire.<\/p>\n Of course, as I said last week – you can make this project your own! \u00a0If you\u2019ve chosen another structure or have another approach that\u2019s TOTALLY OKAY. \u00a0This is just another fun idea to throw out there. \u00a0You can use it – or you can fly your own path as well. \u00a0If you\u2019re following along with the weekly prompts and you hit a week where what you want to do doesn\u2019t fit the prompt – that\u2019s okay<\/strong>! \u00a0Just skip the prompt that week and…<\/p>\n …do what your heart leads you to do<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n Ultimately it\u2019s YOUR project! \u00a0Let your heart lead you! \u00a0And I\u2019ll be here to help however I can!<\/em><\/p>\n Which leads me to share some thoughts on support and inspiration…<\/p>\n After last week\u2019s post I started a facebook group open to anyone following along with this 2013 \u201cFocus\u201d on Kindness. \u00a0Already the group has grown to 25 members plus myself. \u00a0That\u2019s 20+ families who will be committing this year to intentionally spreading joy every week in 2013!<\/p>\n That makes me SO happy!! \u00a0If you\u2019d like to join along please send me an email<\/a> and I\u2019ll send you the link to our facebook group where we will be sharing ideas, supporting one another and urging each other on so that this goal is not one that falls by the wayside come February!<\/p>\n One part of this challenge is to document the year in photos. \u00a0You can customize this for yourself as well. \u00a0I will be taking photos of my family\u2019s journey and from time to time I may share them here.<\/p>\n BUT there is no pressure to share. \u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n I\u2019ve decided that for me what feels right is to share photos when I think it\u2019s an experience other families might be able to use or need a glimpse of – like the photos I posted Thursday of the quilting project we\u2019re doing later this month<\/a>. \u00a0Other weeks I\u2019ll be sharing our word of the week and reporting on some of the best ideas I\u2019ve heard of from others – or the best resources I\u2019ve found in that week\u2019s research.<\/p>\n You can keep your pictures completely private if you like. \u00a0You can share them in a private album on facebook or in our fb group. \u00a0Or you can forego taking the pictures altogether – maybe keep a written journal instead. \u00a0Whatever works for you.<\/strong><\/p>\n The idea is to document the experience for your family – to have a way for the children to look back at the end of the year and see the \u201cbig picture\u201d – to have a way to preserve these family memories at an age when memories are fleeting (heck… at MY age memories are still fleeting! lol… that\u2019s why I love photography!).<\/p>\n If you do decide to share a photo or reflective post publicly and would like to link up I’m going to go the old-school route and ask you to email me<\/a> your web url and a thumbnail image and I’ll add them to the bottom of this post as they come in. \u00a0Sometime over the course of the year I will probably transition to an automatic way to do this (a typical blog party link-up) but I need to do more research before taking that step.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/catinaanderson.com\/photography\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/IMG_09461.jpg\" "\\"IMG_0946\\"")
<\/p>\nOur Project 52 Kindness \u201cWord of the Week\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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THIS WEEK’S WORD: MAILBOX<\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n
Our Facebook Group<\/strong><\/h2>\n
The Photo Project<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Linking Up and\/or Following Along<\/strong><\/h2>\n