Selfless Seal

I am always looking for ways to help my children be kinder. It is hard to think about others first, and sometimes that is all too obvious in sibling relationships. One evening, I had an inspired idea. I went and drew a seal and divided him into triangles, like the geometric art that is all the rage right now.

Then each person was assigned a colored pencil. When anyone did a selfless act, they could go color one of the triangles. Which is why he was named the Selfless Seal. It wasn't so much a contest, but mainly a way to help the kids think about other people. In turn if someone was kind to you, you could tell them to go fill in a triangle. The person who had the most colored spots got to pick the next animal, but the main prize is that when we filled in the entire animal, we got to do a fun family activity.

It didn't take us too long to fill in our cute seal. Doesn't he look great?

Our family activity was peel-off face masks. It happened to fall on St. Patrick's day. You can tell because we are still wearing green. It is fun to do face masks. As they dry, you can stretch your face to make them peel faster. Everyone did a face mask...even Dad. (Actually, he likes face masks the most.)

Earlier that day, we did nails as well. It was a good family day.

Daisy had the most triangles colored in the seal, so she chose a Faithful Flamingo. (It is still about doing acts of kindness, but the kids like the alliteration.) This had more spots, but we made short work of him.

Our family activity was getting a plastic ball and playing games outside. We like 'Kill' and 'Spud' and we played long enough that we didn't even have time for 'Kickball'. We just have to watch out for our rose bushes. Many a ball has met its demise there.

Pearl had the most spots on the Flamingo so she chose an Optimistic Otter. I think this little guy may be my favorite so far.

For finishing him, we have a new game to try out. The trick is finding a time we are all together. With two kids working, it is very busy around here. But we will make friends with the unicorns soon.

In case you are wondering...we are currently working on a Considerate Chameleon. Anything to help us all remember to think of others. The world can always be a kinder place.