Stories of Kindness from Around the World

Teaching Kids About Paying it Forward


--by cabbage, posted Mar 20, 2008
A friend of ours experienced an "incident" when her friend's child was visiting. The child apologized and wrote a letter to my friend saying that he would be happy to "rake leaves, clean the house, do chores...anything to make up for the mistake".  Well, my friend wrote back saying "How about instead of doing it for us, you find someone in your neighborhood--an elderly person or someone else who needs help, and you give us the gift of helping that person".

By giving the child grace and the opportunity to make a relationship with an elderly neighbor, I am sure he will learn far more than if he had been "punished" for his misdeed.

Give someone you know the opportunity to pay it forward--what a gift
that ripples all over!!  :-)
3310 Reads

Readers Comments

EePee wrote: THANKS SO MUCH for sharing.

Thoughtfullness, understanding, kindness is free & makes life so great.
E
butterfly wrote: you are very very in touch with your wisdom. what a great idea. i really truely believe this will catch on. thank you for sharing. love and light x
xbeldaran wrote: ohhh that's such a good idea makes me wistfully wish my son was a kid again so i could try it out
JuneBug wrote: Awwwww! That was handled so well! :}
MakeSomeoneSmile wrote: I agree very much. So many more people experience the joy when we pay it forward. Thanks for sharing!
falsemonkeypuzzl wrote: I'll bet that was the first time that idea had come this child's way...and may (hopefully) set in motion something which will continue moving outward.

Add A Comment