I received promotional items from Bucket Fillers, Inc. in exchange for the post below. All opinions expressed are my own.
We are big on kindness in this family. It’s something I try to practice daily as a parent, and there’s no greater hope of mine than to raise kind, happy, kids.
But I’d be lying if I didn’t say we STRUGGLE with kindness daily. Between sibling rivalry and a child who often misses social cues due to a social disorder, kindness doesn’t always come natural to my kiddos, so I love incorporating tools to help reiterate the lessons I’m attempting to teach.
One of the best tools in our kindness arsenal are books. Our favorite series that helps teach kindness is the Bucket Filling series by Michigan-based author Carol McCloud. These books are definitely favorites in our house. Not only do they have beautiful illustrations, but the concept is simple for kids: Be kind, and you fill someone’s bucket. Be mean, and you ‘dip’ from their bucket.
About Buckets, Dippers, and Lids
The latest book in the series, Buckets, Dippers, and Lids: Secrets to Your Happiness takes bucket filling and bucket dipping one step further by adding the idea that we also have an invisible lid. We “use our lid” to protect and keep the happiness in our bucket.
With one in five U.S. children ages 3 through 17 having a diagnosable mental, emotional or behavioral disorder, I love that this book empowers children to not only consider their own happiness, but also to protect it. Putting a value on emotional health early in a child’s life absolutely has the potential to make an impact in the life of a child.
The concept is presented in a simple manner so even younger kids can understand its meaning. Even the illustrations speak volumes with people of ALL backgrounds and abilities represented throughout.
Buckets, Dippers, and Lids is not just a children’s book either; it’s for adults too. On an adult level, your bucket is your mental and emotional health. On a child’s level, your bucket holds your happiness or your good thoughts and feelings. While other people can affect your happiness, your happiness belongs to you and you can learn to protect it.
The three chapters can be read, discussed, and practiced separately. Three concrete objects – a bucket, a dipper, and a lid – help readers see and learn what adds to happiness, what takes some away, and what protects it.
This concrete concept helps readers of all ages grow in kindness, self-control, resilience, empathy, and forgiveness, which can help lead to a healthier self-concept, more positive relationships, and greater happiness.
Overall, this book, and the entire Bucket Filling library are a must! Don’t forget about all the fun swag either — perfect for classrooms or PTOs!
Learn more about Bucketfillers Inc. on their website | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest
GIVEAWAY
I am excited to give away a set of books and swag from Bucket Fillers, Inc. U.S. residents ONLY. Your email will be collected via Gleam for contacting you should you win, but never, ever added to any list without your consent. Giveaway ends on June 14, 2018 at midnight.
Good luck!
Bucket Fillers Inc. Books Prize Pack
My hubby made me dinner every night this weekend,before I went to work at night
While I was at work, my husband cleaned our entire house despite the fact that he has a broken hand in a cast!
we love the bucket filler books we have
About 10 uears ago right before Thanksgiving I was having a coffee at my usual coffeeshop and complaining to a friend about the condition of my old stove..down to 1 burner…oven not working…someone bought. me a brand new stove and had a singing elf come to my job to announce it. To this day I only have a few ideas on who my secret santa was….and I still have the stove!
This is such a cool story!! 🙂
THIS KIND ACT FROM 2 STRANGERS STILL BRINGS TEARS TO MY EYES!!!! My husband took us on our 1st cruise the end of May recently on the Golden Princess and it was to Alaska which covered various things on our bucket list and it was so dreamy and wonderful.. and that was beyond wonderful in itself… but the
KIND THING that BLEW US AWAY was from 2 strangers we met the 1st day on the ship of the 7 night cruise and although we looked for them we never saw them again and we don’t know their names!
We sat by a couple at the mandatory safety meeting at beginning of the cruise and talked to a couple next to us for probably LESS than 10 minutes… we asked where one another was from and what # cruise this was for us… I think they said it was their 13th? They asked if we were going on any excursions in any of the ports and we smiled and said “Oh, NO, we were thinking of it, but long story short Expedia messed up the plans they arranged for us so severely they had us stranded in Whittier Alaska and with no way home but we had flights and hotels paid for through them from Vancouver to home and I didn’t notice this HUGE error until 1 week before the cruise so I called to fix it and we can not get the money back for the paid for flight which we needed to pay for the new flight home (we did get hotel money back and credit for old flight with $200 fine from airline if we use it later!) and then we still had to hurry and get a bus from Whittier to Anchorage and pay for yet another flight home only from Anchorage to Detroit soooo that put us WAYYYY over budget so there goes our excursion money and more. The couple was VERY sympathetic and we admitted I had cried and we were both mad BUT that we decided we would NOT let anyone or anything ruin this trip it was STILL a bucket list trip it was still a first and it was still very special and exciting and fun and we have fun anywhere we go and were just happy to be together so please dont feel sorry for us. we are happy we promise and we laughed. They said {“Good for you! You WILL still have a wonderful time. and we agreed. Then they said “IF you had gone on an excursion what would you have chosen?” We said we don’t know.. but something to do with ANY animals because we both crazy love all animals SOOO much” They smiled. The man started to do the safety meeting so we had to stop talking but they leaned over and said quickly that “We have been very blessed and my husband and I believe that everyone we meet is for a reason and everything happens in the right time and place for a reason.” We said “Awww we think that too. It was so nice to meet you. ” We never saw them again…. But back in our room later that day.. we had fully paid for anonymous tickets for an Animal planet recommended excursion to go whale watching and wilderness watching with a money back guaurantee we would see at least humpback whales (we ended up seeing harbor seals and eagles too!) and it cost them $360 total for the 2 of us! AND that made me burst into tears immediately and then even MORE so when we realized that unknown to them… they actually chose our day in Juneau for this excursion *(the 4th day of our cruise) which was May 22nd… which is my mom in laws birthday.. my husband’s mom loved animals just as much as we do and she died about 7 yrs ago in her EARLY 60s from lung cancer and May 22nd is her birthday. We said “Mom we are taking you with us to see the whales on your birthday!” This story STILL makes me cry every single time. We got the mysterious couple a card telling them how special what they did was and how meaningful and about my mom in law too and had the ship deliver it to them on the last day bc they could not tell us who they were for security and safety of course. I think their were angels on board.. or at least earth angels. What beautiful human beings!
Wow! I am in tears too!! Such an awesome story. What an experience of a lifetime. Thanks for sharing!
My husband ironed a shirt for me completely unprompted. We both hate to iron and leave it to the last second (like no clean unwrinkled shirts left to wear). He was ironing his own stuff and did my shirt too!
My hubby cleaned up dinner for me!
Yesterday a friend brought me a Diet Coke to start my day.
I have a co worker that regularly helps me out at work w/o me even asking. I try to help him out to when I see he’s busy and has a lot going too but I’m pretty sure he helps me more than I help him. It’s a godsend bc our job is stressful.
They used these books at the day care I work at and I LOVE them!!!! I am going to use these with my son and his cousins. My son has adhd and struggles socially. I love these books!
I have used the bucket filler in my classroom in the past and I started a new job and want to bring it into the classroom where I work now.