I have mentioned before that I am super behind in reporting on our Kindness Club visits at Billingswood Manor Seniors Residence. I am trying hard to catch up! These photos are from our visit on Saturday, Feb 4.
This was the first day that we brought our balloon fun to Billingswood! To watch a super cute video of how well this was received by the residents, click on our Instagram post here.
Prior to this Kindness Club visit, I had watched a video on Facebook of a retirement home that set up a balloon game with their residents and I just had to try it. It was as much fun in real life as it looked in their video.
And then because she is super awesome, our friend Millie asked one of our World-Changing Kids to bring the balloon over to her. She pulled out a Sharpie from her walker and drew the cute face on the balloon that you can see in the photo above. Millie always has something fun and surprising in her walker – we have seen her share candies, bags of chips, and dog biscuits at past visits.
We also made the beautiful Bee Valentine Craft at this visit. Here are some of our friends enjoying their special Valentine.
Big Hazel had a lovely gift of candy canes for the kids – tucked into the bow of the bunny that we had given her at our Kindness Club right before Christmas, when our friends from Family Harmonies Familiales joined us for some caroling.
Big Hazel asked my daughter Hazel if she wanted to take the bunny home to visit for the week – she definitely did! Bunny had a nice week long sleepover at our house and we returned her at our next Kindness Club visit.
Big Hazel and my daughter Hazel are 94 years apart. The joy on Big Hazel’s face in this photo melts my heart.
There are so many amazing benefits of Kindness Club …. The kids get to practice kindness, empathy and compassion. The kids learn that they have the power to make the Elders in their community feel loved and cared for. The kids also learn that it is part of our responsibility as community members to take care of our Elders. The kids see their parents and other adults in their community modelling kindness, which is the most effective way to teach kindness.
The adults get to spend an hour (or more) visiting with other parents in their community – building strong friendships that will create the village that we all need to raise our children. And there is coffee!
Last, but not least, the residents at Billingswood really enjoy our visits. We have made true friendships with the residents – some of whom don’t have much family to come visit them. And we provide new experiences for the residents each week – which is super important to combat loneliness and feelings of isolation that are common experiences for residents in retirement homes.
I promise you that you will feel happy and joyful when you are done your visit at Kindness Club!
After a bit of a delay due to illness at the retirement home, we will be starting our spring session of Kindness Club tomorrow. We would love for you to join us. Here are the details:
Day and Time: Saturdays, 1:00 to 2:00
Dates: April 8 to May 27
(7 Saturdays – skipping May 6 for our school’s Spring Fair)
Location: 1370 Bank St, Ottawa
Price: We are offering a family membership for the 7 week session for $70 and a drop in family rate of $15 to attend individual days (if space is available).
To register, you can email Lindsey at worldchangingkids@gmail.com
Don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions about this!