Practicing kindness makes you happier, healthier, and more connected to those around you, but according to a recent survey from the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Making Caring Common Project, 80% of children in this survey believe that parents are more concerned about achievement or happiness than caring for others. How do we develop these social emotional skills in a way that will resonate with our young audiences? And how do we teach kindness to others as a priority, not an option?

Kindness doesn’t have to be complicated. In Carry Me Home, Lulu discovers genuine kindness can be found in even the most simple gifts. In the Shaker Hymn Simple Gifts, Lulu connects with her lineage, but also with a deep sense of love and caring. Lulu takes us on her journey to show us that the smallest acts have the deepest impact.

Simple Gifts

‘Tis the gift to be simple, ‘tis the gift to be free
Tis the gift to come down to where we ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right.
‘Twill be the valley of love and delight (pg. 65).

Now it’s your turn to positively impact the lives of those around you through a simple gift. Using the Carry Me Home Activity Guide, facilitate your own public service project offering hope, kindness and encouragement to those who are experiencing the heartache of homelessness. Gather your kind crew and make a difference in the life of someone in need by offering them the simple gift of a Blessing Bag made possible by your organizational efforts.

Blessing Bags

Each Blessing Bag will contain Lulu and Serena’s basics for good hygiene, but also the Simple Gifts lyrics bookmark, an Origami Crane craft card, and the Blessings Cards. Be sure to write your hopes and blessings for the recipient of your bag on the back of the Blessing Card print out. Write a note reminding your bag recipient that there are people who care and want to help. (Note that all of the above links take you to downloadable images.)

There was an old Japanese belief that anyone who made a thousand paper cranes by folding them in the origami way could make a wish and that wish would come true, so the girl began making paper cranes, wishing to get well (pg. 14)

What is your wish for those in need? How are you extending kindness– simply? Remember that kindness benefits those who receive it, but also those who give it.