How Random Acts of Kindness and Community Spirit provide me with Hope

*This is a collaborative post

I have cried so many tears over the past few weeks about recent events and have been feeling so sad about the kind of world I am bringing my children up in. I am the kind of parent who has never molly-coddled my children but having to explain that there has been yet another terror attack as we watch the news together will always break my heart.

I have spent a lot of time thinking about how I can be pro-active in our own lives about fighting terror. I donated money to the #OneLove campaign during Ariana Grande's amazing concert this week and Steve and I will often have serious conversations about moving to the Scottish Highlands for a simpler and more peaceful pace of life. If we win the lottery, that's definitely what we'll do but for now, I've been searching for ways to try and spread joy and love in our everyday lives wherever I can. Dwelling on sadness and living in fear means that the terrorists have won and I am determined to not let this happen. Opting to look for the helpers in horrible circumstances, practising gratitude and trying to be kinder has personally helped me get through the darker times. This story featuring local school children from Blakelow handing out cakes and encouraging kindness really made me smile and is the kind of thing I want to see more of.

Random Acts of Kindness

It costs nothing to be kind to one another and focusing on kindness in difficult times really is something I would urge us all to do. Every morning as we walk to school I talk to H, H and J about the importance of being kind to one another. We discuss how nice it feels when someone is kind to us and how it's important we replicate that by being kind to others. Like all siblings, my three children fight like cat and dog (well....cat, mouse and dog in my case), but after repeatedly encouraging daily random acts of kindness every day, I have noticed a switch in their behaviour. During our stay in Wooler over half term, my heart melted when Jack spent his pocket money on buying carrots for the rabbits in the nearby field and his brother and sister helped him to chop them up and took him outside to scatter them for his new furry friends to enjoy. I was also super proud when Harry held the door open for an elderly lady as we visited a restaurant last weekend without being prompted and Heidi is always super kind anyway (it's in her nature) but I always get a warm feeling when she automatically shares her favourite sweets with us all as we watch Saturday night.

I remember as a child of the 80s, I grew up with a real sense of community. It was just second nature to my parents to help our neighbours. My dad would put our elderly neighbour's bin out every week, my mum could leave me with a neighbour when she popped to the shop, informal babysitting circles were set up which allowed everyone to work and we'd have street parties and bus trips in the summer.

It was a time where it was actually normal to borrow a few teabags from a neighbour to tide you over (rather than relying on Amazon Prime like I do now) and when neighbours did genuinely look out and care for one another. It's nothing like that at all now and to be honest, I don't even know any of my neighbours' names. I think it's really important now more than ever that we make an effort to restore community spirit and start being kinder to our neighbours once again. I'm going to make a pledge to start being a better neighbour starting today.

How to get involved and promote kindness in your community

The lovely folk from Wall's Pastry are doing their bit in helping to re-build our communities and encourage kindness in every day with their #HelpingHand campaign. They are going to reward one special community project with a £5000 makeover. This could be a brownie hut that requires a lick of paint and new furnishings, a football team in need of new changing rooms, a community centre in desperate need of a new kitchen or even a remarkable individual who deserves a bedroom makeover.

You can nominate a local project here

Nominating a local project will take less than a minute. Not only will this random act of kindness leave you feeling warm and fuzzy (especially if they're selected as a winner) but you could also win £500 for yourself just for nominating. You really have nothing to lose. 

If you are nominating a local cause that means a lot to you, why not share this post with your friends and encourage them to do the same. Nominations will close on 10th July. 

Let me know if which local cause you'll be nominating. T&C's apply, check out the Wall's Helping Hand website for details.