The week of Valentine’s Day, at our “Wednesday Skate and Make Art” afternoon at the Alta Vista Outdoor Rink, we had a fantastic group of World-Changing Kids make us nearly 50 Valentine Cards for delivery at Billingswood Manor Senior’s Residence.
On the Friday PD Day before Valentine’s Day, I took four World-Changing Kids with me to deliver these beautiful cards.
This Valentine’s Day card delivery was our fourth visit to Billingswood – our first visit was Valentine’s Day last year, we also delivered cards for Easter, Halloween and Christmas. The kids know what to expect at these visits now, and they are always excited to go because they get treats and are allowed to mix the four different flavours of juice from the juice machine. And the residents are starting to recognize and remember the kids.
This time, I thought that we would try something different – rather than just delivering the cards and leaving, I thought we should bring some games and stay for a bit to play with the residents. This activity went really well!
My daughter Hazel met a big Hazel and they ended up playing Candyland together.
Another one of the boys that came with us started doing a puzzle and was soon being helped out by Peter.
And the other two boys played dominoes and talked with D’Arcy.
My daughter noticed that Alma, one of our favourite 102-year old residents, was not down in the living room, so we asked where she was. Camille, who is the fantastic Receptionist/ Activity Coordinator at Billingswood, went up to Alma’s room to tell her that there were some visitors asking about her. Alma came right now and sat beside my daughter and watched the two Hazels play Candyland.
Again, it was such a beautiful experience. I think we should make board games at Billingswood a regular event!
Imagine the ways in which our World-Changing Kids will be able to make the world a better place if they grow up being used to visiting retirement homes. They will be knowledgeable of the isolation that can occur if residents don’t have family members living nearby who can visit regularly. They will know how easy it is to make the residents happy with a short visit and conversation, and they will internalize the fact that they also make themselves feel happier through this kind act.
It is my hope that these visits will teach the children the importance of taking care of the elders in your community, and that this will become a regular part of these World-Changing Kids’ lives when they grow up.
And for more great acts of kindness ideas, check out our book, Plant a Garden of Kindness, A Child’s Guide to Filling a Year with Weekly Acts of Kindness. It consists of 75 acts of kindness that kids can do in their neighbourhood to make it a friendlier place.
You can buy it here on our website – just click on the “Buy our Book” tab in the upper right hand corner.