Beautiful girl

I am feeling so very proud of my beautiful daughter today for the kindness she has in her heart and the way she always shares this with others. Sophie really does have the most beautiful nature of any human I have ever come across and there is no doubt in my mind that she is an old soul who has been on this Earth many, many times before. I will give you a few examples of her kindness to show you why I am feeling so proud of her.

When we were leaving Kindy yesterday, there was a chubby little boy playing puzzles all alone at the table. He is a child that I often see playing by himself and he seems to have a very introverted and shy personality. Sophie was jovially waving goodbye to her friends and teachers when she walked past this boy and saw him struggling with the puzzle. I watched as she went over to him, sat beside him and began talking to him. She picked up a piece of the puzzle that was in the wrong spot and said “Have a look at the shape of this piece, where do you think it goes? Look for the same shape”. The boy searched the puzzle board and found the correct spot for the piece, slotting it into place. He looked up at Sophie with a beaming smile on his face as Sophie cheerily praised him “Yes, you got it! Good job!” Then just as quickly, Sophie said goodbye to the boy and we were out the door. I praised Sophie for being so kind to this child and she reacted to my praise with a very nonchalant attitude. I guess in her eyes, there was really no other way the situation could have played out and she just did what she thinks any normal human should do. If only that were the common manner in which everyone treated each other…the world would be a very different place!

Then this morning at Kindy, there is a little boy, Ethan, who is new to Sophie’s class. I have a chat to his Mum, Michelle each day and they really are a lovely family. Poor Ethan is struggling to adjust because he is painfully shy and feels really sad when it comes time for his Mum to leave. This morning I could see Michelle having the usual struggle with encouraging Ethan to play so I went over to Sophie and suggested she approach Ethan and find something they could play together. She asked “Why” of course because that is Sophie’s favourite question and I explained the situation to her. She then happily skipped over to Ethan and began chatting away to him about nothing really. I watched as Ethan loosened his grip on his Mum and was entranced in Sophie’s jabbering away. I left the Kindy at this stage with a feeling of warmth in my heart that Sophie was going out of her way to make another child feel safe, welcome and happy.       

Sophie’s beautiful nature makes teaching her lessons of kindness very easy, but I wonder if I will be able to repeat the same thing with Elliott? I feel it is an essential lesson for children to learn from very early on that empathy, compassion, caring, nurturing and giving are fundamental elements of daily life. I want my children to grow up to be strong and driven people with a heart of gold. I want them to realise how great it feels to be kind to others and the far reaching impact this has for both themselves and the people they are being kind to.

I’ll leave you with this quote that sums this point up well:

“When I was five years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down “happy”. They told me I didn’t understand that assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life”. John Lennon