Help Share A Million Words of Kindness

There are so many things I want to teach my children, perhaps one of the most important things is kindness. True kindness that comes with compassion and forgiveness. Despite everything else, I hope they will see the good in people, in themselves and in their mother. So I try every day to be a better person, a kinder person, they kind of person I hope they will be come.

Have courage and be kind… Where there is kindness, there is goodness; and where there is goodness, there is magic. ~ Cinderella

The best way to teach kindness is to live kindness. Of all of our acts of kindness, the one that seems to impress my children the most is giving food to men and women on the side of the road. I try to always keep granola bars, beef jerky or some other snack in my car. When we see someone panhandling I roll down my window and offer them a snack. This practice has become so common place that my daughter’s fuss at me when I run out of snacks.

A couple of weeks ago I cleaned out our pantry. It was full of snacks the kids had grown tired of, didn’t like or we just weren’t eating. I put a full bag in my car planning to dole them out as usual. But when we came across the first person in need, I rolled down my window and handed him the whole bag. He was shocked, my daughters were shocked and I was shocked at the impression I made.

As the man thanked me over and over before we drove away my daughter watched him pull two snacks from the bag, stick the rest in his back pack and start snacking right away.

“He must have been very hungry mom. You did a good thing.”

In that moment, I nearly lost it. I hadn’t thought about my action being that big of a deal, but it made a huge impression of my daughter. And in my action, she saw kindness.

Share A Million Words of Kindness

While in California for the D23 Expo, I was dubbed an Ambassador of Kindness, and I hope you will join me in celebrating Disney’s Cinderella by sharing words of kindness. Inspired by the spirit of Cinderella, this online initiative invites fans everywhere to pledge their commitment to be courageous and kind in the hopes of achieving “A Million Words of Kindness” in time for World Kindness Day on November 13, 2015.

For my words of kindness, I choose to share a message that I teach my children. Each night before bed, we share our “one thing” — one thing from the day that made us happy. It is a way for me to learn about my children and show them the good in every day. So my words of kindness were:

Find something good in every day and everyone. ~ Jen Burg

What message of kindness will you share?

Bring home the magic of Cinderella on Blu-Ray and DVD September 15.