I’ve always been inspired by the Random Acts of Kindness movement. It’s such a simple philosophy and so easy to make part of everyday life. But like most people I’m busy, life gets in the way, and the desire I have to be kind to others gets pushed to the back burner without me even realising it.
Recently, on a rainy afternoon, I was rushing to get my three kids in the car without all of us ending up like drowned rats. We were finally in when I noticed an older women standing under a shop awning looking stressed and anxious. She had no umbrella and a bag of groceries in her hand. So I jumped out with my brolly and offered her a hand. It took two minutes, she was grateful and I was on my way. Back in the car, my six-year-old asked me why I had helped her. The question shocked me at first. Didn’t he know that’s what people do? They help each other. And then it dawned on me, he will only know if I teach him by example.
So the Random Acts of Christmas Kindness (RAOCK) idea was born. From the 1st – 25th December our family would do at least one random act of kindness every day. We would do it as a family; think of ideas together and then go and do them. I mentioned it to a few friends and they wanted to be a part of it too. I loved the idea of sharing what they were going to do so I started a RAOCK Facebook page so we could share the love.
So where do you come in? I’m putting the challenge out there to you to be a part of this RAOCK adventure, I promise you, you’ll be glad you did! It doesn’t have to cost you a cent. You don’t have to do all 25 days. Even one RAOCK during the 25 days will make a difference in someone else’s life! And the ripple effects are huge. Don’t know what to do? I’ve got that covered:
* Return shopping trolleys back into the trolley bays
* Allow someone to go ahead of you in the supermarket line
* Load bags of groceries into people’s cars
* Feed parking meters
* Drop off hand written thank-you notes to your local police, fire, ambulance station (take biccies too!)
* Take hand-me-downs to a local charity
* Tuck happy notes on car windows wishing people a good day … the ideas are only limited to your imagination!
I’m so excited that my kids get to be a part of this and that by Christmas Day being kind to strangers will no longer be questioned in our house. But best of all being kind to others is a gift to myself because this feels amazing!
What ideas do you have for random acts of Christmas kindness? What’s the nicest thing anyone has ever done for you over the Christmas season?
Comments
48 Comments so far
When my then eighty-year-old neighbour’s ill sister died the Meals on Wheels stopped and he didn’t know that he was eligible. I rang the council and organised it for him and when he told me, looking stunned and thrilled, that he was going to be getting meals delivered, I said, ‘The council’s not so bad after all’. He agreed with me and was really pleased that those faceless people had thought of him. I never told him I did it. That was a few years ago now and he’s still fit and lively and walking his dog twice a day so the meals can’t be too bad!
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I think this is a lovely idea. I want to call out for some help on this topic …. My 3 year old has told me that she wants to give a whole lot of her stuffed toys away … in her words ‘I want to share the toys that aren’t my favourites with boys and girls that don’t have any’. I have been calling and emailing around for months and can’t find any charity that will accept them. They are lovely stuffed toys that are as-new, and it would break my heart to take them to an op-shop to collect dust when I am sure that some little one out there would be thrilled to have them. I have tried battered womens’ shelters and refugee centres, but they state they only want puzzles, books and educational-type toys and if I gave them these toys they would only take them to an op shop anyway. Surely although these aren’t anything fancy, they might put a smile on someone’s face. Can anyone suggest anywhere? We’re in Melbourne.
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Do fire stations take them? I think I have heard that they have comfort toys for children at emergency sites.
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I am in Brisbane, i know the hospitals always welcome toys. Request that they go to the ward playrooms not to day surgery playrooms as they have heaps already!
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MummyDani,
I had exactly the same problem last year too, when my littlies and I decided they were ready to donate a carton full of as-new (some never touched) teddies & stuffed toys to charity.
Except no one wanted to take them. I phoned & emailed & even attempted to find a way to get them sent to QLD in the aftermath of the floods & Yasi, but as we were in Perth I had to give up on that idea.
In the end I donated them to a Good Samaritans op shop, thinking that hopefully they will still find their way into the homes & hearts of underprivileged kiddies. And my own children still got to learn the valuable lesson about giving to others.
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Try homeless people services. In Adelaide its Hutt Street Centre. What a wonderful thing for her to want to do.
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There is a small charity set up called ‘ Random Acts’ they are still just getting started but they encourage exactly this, try checking out their website. Also, the guy that started it (Misha Collins) recently held a massive scavenger hunt for which one of the items was a video of a random act of kindness, so now there’s loads of videos on youtube if you’re looking for inspiration =P it’s a great initiative, but I think a fault of this article is that it kind of suggests that this should only be something we think of around christmas, often it is the middle of the year when people most need to be reminded to be kind to others.
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Ironically my best friend’s boyfriends boyf (now ex) met a girl on this website cheated on her and then finally ended up leaving my bestie for her.
Not so kind…
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Pingback: Random Acts of Kindness for Christmas | The Mommy's Place
When I see someone caught out in the rain with no umbrella I like to ask if they would like to share mine, I often wish someone would ask me when I am caught without one!
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I have a couple of long held December traditions.
1. I donate to every person I pass in the street who is asking for money.
2. Every time I go to the supermarket, I buy sweet treats to put in hampers for those in need, because I figure they need sweets at Christmas too.
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Well said
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I’m going to stick my hand up and suggest that recipients don’t always have to be human. How about taking some old no longer used blankets to the RSPCA for winter, or donating some time to walk their penned up dogs if you have the time. I am selling raffle tickets for Sydney Pet and Animal Rescue .. It’s easy there are heaps of prizes and tickets are only $2.
If you see a stray dog, please help it (unless you are worried that it may be dangerous). I have returned several dogs to their owners over the last 10 years or so, with an amazing amount of gratitude shown each time.
Just a thought …
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A great thought Bus Girl, I will remind people of our animal friends and that they need kindness too! Thanks!
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Awesome… love it… I’m in!
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I like to pass on my metcard (train ticket) at the end of the day when I have finished using it. It’s still valid until midnight so if I see someone at the ticket machine, I offer it to them or I leave it sticking out of the machine in the hope someone will pick it up. People are sometimes a little sceptical but appreciative once they realise I’m not a nutjob! Makes me walk home with a spring in my step and a smile on my face!
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Awesome! I try & do this with pre-paid parking as well. And every year at the Australian Open tennis I give my main court tickets to ground pass holders when I leave. You’re right, people are always a little sceptical, thinking its some sort of scam, a sad indictment on the world we live in really!
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Thank you! I am one of those happy recipients of main court tickets! It is such a lovely gesture, and I think the number of people doing this grows each year. It gives us a chance to witness an event in the flesh, something I don’t think I’d ever do for myself.
I am also a parking ticket/metcard passer-on-er-er!
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What a fabulous idea! I try and do RAKs where I can but mandating it as such is a really good incentive! Just told my partner about it and will tell my mum, she will love it.
Not sure if anyone’s said it yet but something I like to do is cook meals for friends who are doing it tough or who have new bubs etc. It can be as easy as just making more of whatever you are making for tea one night if you don’t have much time. Today I sent one of my best friends (who has a 5 week old) home with enchiladas to heat up for tea and she was so appreciative!
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Yesterday a man in Harvey Norman let me in front of him in the checkout queue. He did it with a big smile and said he’s trying to teach his little bloke about treating ladies well. The little bloke was about 18 months old and I don’t think he cared, but I did.
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I’ve been suffering homesickness or culture shock and whilst I have been trying to battle on I’ve been having a little pity party in my head.
Unexpectedly, an online friend sent me two boxes of Australian CHEEZELS!!! Her timing was fabulous as I was having a chronically bad day and these cheered me up no end.
I’m going to pay this act of kindness forward!
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Great idea, I love it and shall do my best to give it a go. At least with random acts of kindness you don’t really have to plan them, it’s all about observing the world around you.
You know what they say, charity starts at home – I’m off to make Mum a cup of tea, she’s been very stressed this week.
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Always good to get a reminder to be kind! Especially around Christmas.
Thank you, Sarah. I will certainly make this a new Christmas tradition of ours!
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I decided to buy these calendars as Christmas presents for staff, clients etc (oops, secret’s out!) – funds go to keeping a refugee mentoring program going. www,globalbackyard.com.au
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Also, take your old magazines to your local hospital.
I buy lots of magazines, and I used to take them all to the local hospital so people have up to date magazines to distract them when there, rather than reading about Princess Di’s affair with Dodi, from, err 1996.
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That is such a good idea! Even at the doctors-they always have crap magazines! It always pays to be kind-and the smallest things can always be greatly appreciated!
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You can do the same with books. My MIL volunteers at the hospital and when I cleaned out my heaving bookshelves recently, purging the novels I would never read again, she took them up to the hospital.
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My son (6) is very good at telling me which of his toys should go to “the poor people” at Christmas. So much so that he went to the pantry the other weekend and got out an old shopping bag to start putting things in without myself or my husband saying a word.
But taking things to Vinnies is a normal part of what my family refers to as “advanced recycling”, it’s not just a once a year event.
The one thing I try to do every single time is to say ‘thank you’ to the person serving me in a shop, particularly since the young man who makes my morning coffee told me that it made his morning because I actually remembered to say thanks!!
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Yesterday I visited an acquaintance with three bags of my daughter’s outgrown clothes & a box of nappies that she will no longer require for her baby girl. Does it still count if the recipient of the RAOCK is someone you know?
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Yep, it all counts! Our RAOCK today was to family and teachers and tomorrow is for a friend.
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Today one of my tenants locked his keys (& phone) in his house and walked to my office to get the spare keys. He asked if someone could take him home & of course I did.
That’s my thing for today.
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I have been practising this for a while now – mainly as an aid in managing depression tendencies as the act of helping or thinking about someone else gives me such a buzz and lifts my spirits. Last year my then 10 year old’s report card gave out the usual straight As but in his comments the teacher said my boy had a kind heart and was always helping those who were struggling and volunteered to sit next to and assist an autistic boy in the class. I was so proud – that meant more to me than the good marks and I told him so.
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Your son sounds like an amazing person
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And you sound like an AMAZING mum. I would love to think my daughter Ava will receive a report card like that one day.
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I’d be thrilled with all D’s and a kind kid! He sounds fabulous and I have no doubt you deserve the credit!
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your son’s abilities to do those things shows what kind of parenting and examples he has been exposed to in his 10+ year of existence – a huge round of applause to you (and his dad too?)! you rock as a mum!!! (
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Great idea. Where can I send a list of the acts of kindness I require each day?
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Put them out there, you just never know, but you may need to reveal your identity!!
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I’ve been doing the same thing every December for as long as I can remember – it’s one of my favorite Christmas traditions.
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I knew I couldn’t be the first person to think of it, just wish we had started it years ago!
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Random acts of kindness are a pleasure to perform. Mine is an ongoing act, I picking up rubbish at a school bus pickup/drop off zone every morning while I walk the dog. No cost, and less wrappers, cans etc are dropped because it just looks cleaner! I got this idea from my Mum – on her daily walk she takes old bread bags to pickup the rubbish along the walking track too!
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Every year before we put up our tree, I get the kids to help me go through all their old toys and the ones they dont want or use anymore, we clean up and take to Vinnies… I have told the kids that some children aren’t as lucky as them and that its nice to give back. They actually look forward to it now..
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What a beautiful idea. My little one is only 5 months old, but we may start this next year.
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We’ve just done the same in our kids playroom, boxing up old toys to donate to charity. And you know what, I was really blown away by how brave my little guy was about donating some old favourites, which he did entirely unasked.
End result is rather bare looking playroom shelves (for the next few weeks at least!), but the kids haven’t even mentioned the toys that have now gone to a new home (Good Samaritans) & a happy Mum knowing I am teaching them some valuable life lessons
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Love it.. Brilliant. Count me in!
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Oh isn’t this the most awesome bit of Christmas cheer ever??!
I am so proud of you Sarah!
The possibilities are limitless and I am so excited to see where the RAOCK movement will go!!!
Now….where did I put my creative thinking cap……
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This post has been the kick up the bum I needed to take those 4 (largest moving boxes you can find) boxes of my old clothes to charity.
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Mine have been languishing in my cupboard for months – the same cupboard I cleared out in the first place so I could have more room! A kick up the bum, indeed.
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I keep one box / bag at home, and put stuff in it as I stumble (sometimes actually physically :S ) over it and realise that I don’t need/want/use/fit into it any more. When the box is full (OK occasionally overflowing) I take it to vinnies. Any more than one box and it would take up too much space!
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