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The Little Things-Making Kids Feel Special

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I love doing little things for my kids. Sometimes we lose sight and think that gestures for our children need to be huge, expensive, trips or fancy toys and but that’s not the case. Think about your childhood and the things that were super important. It probably wasn’t whatever giant toy you asked for from Santa when you were six, but instead a surprise visit from your mom to eat lunch with you at school. As an adult you’ve long forgotten what you unwrapped at your 10th birthday, but remember your Dad showing up at your recital when he had told you he couldn’t get off work. Little things! I cut my kids’ pancakes into shapes every now and then, we’ll have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches shaped like pumpkins in the fall (Hey! Why not?), and sneak bubbles into a bath while they’re still cleaning up dinner. Some “little things” may take one minute, some a lunch break but they aren’t difficult to do and they pack a huge memory punch! You only get one chance at making a special childhood for your beloved brood, so do your best to make sure its spectacular.

The 2012-2013 school year was the first one where my son had to bring a snack. On the first day of school I packed his neurotically healthy tidbit and taped a note to it. Mind you, he was three and couldn’t read but I knew his kind teachers wouldn’t mind reading it for my boy. I kept thinking about his note and if he’d seen it, and how he must have felt hearing a little something from Mommy in the middle of his day. When I picked him up and we were discussing his teachers, artwork, and new friends, I asked if he got my letter and his face lit up. It melted my heart! He loved it. So, I wrote one the next day, and the next day, and the next day. And after that I decoded he need one every day the entire school year. I mean, right? Of course!

This was tough! Especially with a two-year-old, and a colicky infant in the beginning of the school year. There were quite a few days when I’d have all the kids packed and ready to go only to realize I forgot the damn note!! As you can see in the picture I’d run out of tape from time-to time and for about a two-week span (that’s how long it takes a mother with three kids under 4 years of age to remember to pick up a roll of Scotch tape) actually resorted to electrical tape! There’s plenty of packing tape in there as well! Some pretty random stickers were used  on a busy morning rush. I was so thankful on a few occasions that Kroger had slipped me a sticker or two at checkout the day before! But I did it, and he loved having them. It was also a great conversation starter on the way home from school. Now when he’s 16, pissed at my husband and I, and screams, “You don’t love me!” I can pull out these notes and say, “Like hell I don’t!” Haha ;) or perhaps something more cool, calm, and motherly. ;)

Do something cool this year and plan for it, then follow through! If they’re young, perhaps a weekly note, a sandwich cut into a heart a couple of times a month, (secretly) pledge to visit them for lunch once a quarter, go watch soccer practice one night even though it isn’t your night for carpool. Little things!!! These little gestures, mini acts of kindness to your child, are what is going to leave a foot print on their hearts as they grow into beautiful, kind hearted adults.


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