It started out with coats.
A couple of weeks ago, our pastor told a story of a little girl named Ava. Now in fourth grade, Ava is working on the third annual coat drive she organized with her friends, called “Ava’s Angels.” I remember hearing about this girl a year or two ago — she and her Angels collect coats by the hundreds each fall. I remember thinking how wonderful it would be if my Little Guy could grow up to have such a generous nature. How does a person become so giving? How does a parent teach that?
More importantly, how do I get this girl some coats?
I’m a procrastinator. Every fall, it’s guaranteed that I’ll miss the coat drive, and every year, I save the coats for the next one. And the cycle continues.
At the end of this particular sermon, Pastor said Ava was in her last week of collecting coats. Time! Time to get the coats, meet this amazing Ava, teach the Little Guy about generosity, and, oh yeah…add some kindness to my list.
I was able to get in touch with Ava’s mom, and last Sunday, I dropped a bag of coats at the church with a card attached for Ava and her mom (our schedules didn’t allow us to meet in person). To Ava, I congratulated her on another successful coat drive and told her how excited I was to be part of it. I reminded her — as I’m sure many have — that she’s changing the world. To her mom, I told her not to listen to anyone who says she’s “lucky” to have a daughter like Ava. That’s not luck; that’s good parenting at work.
Many years ago, I worked with a girl, a mom of three boys, who told me: “It drives me crazy when people see a ‘good’ kid and tell the parents, ‘You’re so lucky,’ but when they see a ‘bad’ kid, they blame the parents. Nobody ever praises parents for ‘good’ kids. ‘Good’ kids are ‘lucky.'”
I took that to heart, and I took it with me. Ever since then, I take any opportunity I can to praise parents when their kids do great things. As parents, we carry the weight of everything our kids do. And then we add some rocks into that baggage when we blame ourselves each time something goes wrong (or not as great as we expected).
This act of kindness started out as coats. But I got to do a little extra by spreading kindness to a deserving mom, too. I only wish I’d had time to get some tips and take some notes. I’ve never really believed in luck, anyway.
One Hundred Kind 