What I ask my kids everyday

The two questions I ask my kids everyday after school are:

1- How did you show kindness/compassion today?

2- What kindness did you witness today?

Showing kindness and seeing kindness are both decisions we get to make every single day. And when you make that decision to look for the good, act on the good and recognize the good in others, you discover opportunities for connection and happiness.

It doesn’t mean you are blind to the ‘bad’, the suffering, the cruelty and hatred that being human guarantees one will encounter at some point.

You don’t, however, let those moments become the blinders by which you see the world.

I work with leaders and teams whose ability to fully succeed is held hostage by these blinders and it’s only through their dedication to making kindness and compassion a non negotiable daily practice, that they rediscover how fun life can be.

I get to bear witness with my work, to the importance and power of kindness- not only on those receiving it but on the giver. I also see how quickly one stops living life and instead just passes time, when kindness no longer becomes a priority.

Which is why those two questions matter more to me than how they did on a test. It is why I want showing kindness and recognizing kindness shown by others to become a way of life and a measure of having had a successful day.

Perfect grades aren’t the solution to a happy life.

Yet, just about every kid/teen that I asked to list the values of their parents- had academic achievement at the top of the list. Only about 4% had compassion/kindness towards others on the list at all.

If you want your kids to succeed at life- not just at school- then make sure they and you, value compassion as much as academics.

And if you want to start discovering just how fun life can be- make sure you answer those two questions as well.

Try it out and let me know how it goes!

Follow For Daily Posts and Baby Goat Videos!

About Becky

Becky Schmooke (pronounced “Smoke”) is a Mindful Leadership Consultant and Speaker, focused on providing action based mindfulness and leadership training to organizations and businesses who are ready to do things differently.

Becky’s Mindful Kitchen, is located outside of Iowa City, and provides truly unique team building and leadership retreats, strategic planning workshops, private parties and classes and weekly summer camps for kids. The commercial teaching kitchen, treehouse, archery range, bush craft skills, first aid training, wood fired pizza oven, chickens, baby goats and timber adventure playground provides endless opportunities for hands on activities.

As a mom to three girls, 60 chickens, 4 goats, 2 dogs and a fire fighter’s wife- life is never boring and provides Becky with endless stories which she uses to illustrate her approach to mindfulness in daily posts on social media.

In all that she does, Becky has one goal, to build confidence in others to take action to live their best life, not just pass time.