Kids and Random Acts of Kindness

People who know me well, know that my reading habits are erratic  - I read all over the place too often without any clear focus.  I’m sure I “see things” that aren’t there, but I can’t help myself from seeing connections.  Here’s an example.

Yesterday, December 30^th, 2012, I read this article on NPR’s Most E-Mailed Stories:

Random Acts Of Kindness Can Make Kids More Popular

by NANCY SHUTE

December 27, 201210:39 AM

Enlarge image

A hug is good for Mom, and good for her daughter.

iStockphoto.com

In the aftermath of Christmas, a parent could be forgiven for thinking that materialism has trumped human kindness.

Take heart. Children can easily become kinder and more helpful. And that behavior makes them more positive, more accepting and more popular.

At least that's how it worked for fourth- and fifth-graders in Vancouver, Canada. Researchers there have been studying empathy and altruism in schoolchildren for decades.

"How do we decrease bullying, increase empathy and caring for others?" says Kimberly Schonert-Reichl, an applied developmental psychologist at the University of British Columbia who helped lead the experiment.

They wanted to see how performing random acts of kindness would influence that. But one measurement thrown into the mix almost as an afterthought — being liked by peers — was the quality most improved by helpful acts.

The researchers asked 9- to 11-year-olds in 19 classrooms to either perform three acts of kindness or visit three places each week (the tourists were the control group).

The acts of kindness were simple. The children gave mom a hug when she was stressed out, shared their lunches, or vacuumed the floor.

After four weeks, the researchers tested the kids and compared the results with tests they'd taken before. All the children had more positive emotions, and were slightly happier.

But the children who performed acts of kindness were much more likely to be accepting of their peers, naming more classmates as children they'd like to spend time with.

"I do think we're on to something," Schonert-Reichl tells Shots. The children were at an age when bullying can be more extreme, she says, and children become more self-conscious. So an increase in peer acceptance could benefit in the classroom and in social life. The study was published online in the journal PLOS One.

Being part of the experiment made kindness intentional. The children had to plan their acts of kindness, and remember to do them. Similar experiments in adults have shown that being actively kind increases happiness, and happier people then become more likely to help others.

Parents don't have to have a Ph.D. to encourage these sorts of simple acts of kindness in children – or in themselves.

"I think of ways to start the New Year, and people making resolutions," says Schonert-Reichl, a former middle school teacher and mother of two boys." Can I do an act of kindness for someone every day?"

Harried parents would feel better, she says, and their children would, too. "They start helping, and they start feeling this is nice." Seeing themselves as the kind of person who helps others could be an identity that then stays with them for the rest of their lives.

Bird Poop Stories

Trudeau Responds to Trump's Tariffs:  Incoming Canadian Geese

Listen to the Someday a Bird Will Poop on You:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zA56dbTa08

JP & GP
Pelican Poop

So, long time ago jinx and I were at a conference in FL.The afternoon off we went to the Captiva Island. Walking on the beach, the New York girl with a BIG hairdo  walking in front of us got dumped on by a huge pelican with a huge poo. No one in our group could stop laughing while the poor girl had to wash her hair in the ocean............

MH
Okay, here is my true bird poop story:

It happened in 1979.  I was going for my final defense of my dissertation at UGA.   I had two major professors, Curtis Ulmer, and Alice Klein.  Alice had been my statistics’ professor.  Both she and Curtis were brilliant, and he wanted her to share the spot as co-major professor.  Unfortunately, Alice was diagnosed with cancer prior to my completing the degree, but she still was present at the defense.  When she got to her questions for me, she wanted me to change the display of some tables.  Curtis was irritated because he thought she should have simply directed me to do this prior to the final defense.  It didn’t stop me from passing, it just meant a bit more time in finishing the document, because I had to secure the templates for the tables from some folks in the College of Education.  I was a little disappointed, but I was not angry at Alice like Curtis.  I felt she had been tremendous as my teacher, and of course along with everyone who loved her, I was grieving about her condition.  I wore a bright green emerald dress to the defense.   I left and walked over to the College of Education to get what I need to make the adjustments.  I stepped out onto a little balcony on the second floor of the building and I could see Curtis approaching.  He came to be with me.  He’s completely bald (I’ll share a photo of him later).  As he was trying to cheer me, I realized something white and wet was coming off his bald head onto my bright green dress.  A pigeon had pooped on both of us, and we broke into intense laughter.  The poop was on me was in the boobs area, and Curtis had taken out his handkerchief and was trying discreetly to help me remove it.  Now, the man with whom I worked was Mr. Tom Mahler, the Director of the Georgia Center.  A real older Southern Gentleman who helped me with so much.  I always called him Mr. Mahler, and would never used any naughty language in his presence.  When I went into the office, he said, “Mawgret (drawn out with his great Southern accent), what is on your dress?  I said with no hesitation, “That is Pigeon Shit, Mr. Mahler”!   He just grinned and his laughter seemed endless.   Yes, one day a bird pooped on me.  I’ll send Curtis’ photo in a minute.   I ordered three copies of the book today, because it resonates with me, but I do love hearing the woman read it in the YoutTube presentation.   Margaret

HJ

Very good.  And I vividly remember the two times I have been pooped on.  Once while on a sailboat at age 12 off of Hilton Head Island and the other visiting the African American museum in Los Angeles when I was 30 or so.  It was pretty hilarious.

CHLOE

I'm sure you remember that you and Stell gave Chloe the book Some Day a Bird Will Poop on You? Well we were at the park last week before school and guess what? She got pooped on!! She handled it marvellously as did her mother and 40 wet wipes. She didn't skip a beat and read the book at bedtime the rest of the week throwing in her own Australian bird story.

Here is the most bizarre and really a really sad story about bird poop that ran in the Atlanta Journal Constitution on August 14, 2019:

https://www.ajc.com/news/local/torpy-large-driving-under-doo-doo-with-intent-distribute-lunacy/Vr0xaZ0q4x1O1X07RpV1uO/?fbclid=IwAR24Qg-Zp5Mw-jUjDQlKiW8hDpmIht08L0WRwDy8_4ztc0AWBJ87HcZGpFQ

AJC EXCLUSIVE: Driving under doo-doo with intent to distribute lunacy

I'll just copy the beginning here and then if you would the full story use the link above:

The next time a black man says he was racially profiled, I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt, thanks to the bizarre and infuriating case of Shai Werts.

Werts is the Georgia Southern University quarterback now nationally infamous for bird poop.

He was arrested on July 31 in Saluda County, S.C., as he drove back to school after visiting his family. As you may have seen, deputies stopped him for speeding and arrested him for cocaine possession — which they claimed was the white substance they saw on the hood of Werts’ car.

Yes, you read that right. They said they found cocaine. On. The. Hood. Of. His. Car.

The encounter offered some true theater of the absurd, captured on body camera:

Deputy: What’s that white stuff on your hood, man?

Werts: Bird (expletive).

Deputy: Bird (expletive)? That ain’t bird (expletive)!

Werts: I promise you, that’s bird doo-doo.

Deputy: I promise you, it’s not though.

Werts: I swear to God, that’s bird doo-doo.

Deputy: Well, I swear to God, it’s not. I just tested it and it turned pink.

The deputy’s drug field test determined that the dried white substance splashed across Werts’ hood was cocaine.

Except, of course, it wasn’t.

Later testing determined what any cognizant person would have surmised — that it was not an illegal substance. South Carolina prosecutors dropped the charge.

The origin of that substance is still undetermined because, well, law enforcement doesn’t test for bird doo-doo. Werts told the cop he had earlier tried to wash off the windshield, which spread the substance. Police theorized Werts tried to toss coke from his speeding car and it landed and stuck all over his hood. Apparently defying physics. And logic.

The whole encounter demonstrated what seems to be racial profiling mixed with questionable policing and a dose of gullibility.

January 9, 2021

Vivienne:  It is avery lucky thing if a bird poops on you!!

Margaret:   Is that an old Irish saying?

Vivienne:  Not sure it is Irish but I heard it many many times and something my mom said to us when we were kids.  Lots of people buy a lottery ticket when a bird poops on them.  

Apisata is a Citizen of the USA

Dear mom,

Thank you so much for taking me to Atlanta yesterday and helping me in every step for being American citizen. I want to claim that yesterday is my American birthday, March, 5 with the delivery of Margaret E. Holt. :)

I really do appreciate for your help, your time and all effort that you give me. I 'm so lucky to be have you as my mother. I can't  ask a better mom because You already are awesome, wonderful, terrific, excellent and many more. 

Love, Apisata Dinky Donkey Holt

Diamond Carrot (aka Karat)

 Diamond Carrot (aka Karat)

By Margaret E. Holt

March 4, 15

            

            Once upon a time in Galloway, Ohio, a small urban community outside of Columbus, there lived a young boy Alexander.  Alexander lived with his sister, Jaiden Grace, and his parents, Paris and Carrie.  They had three animals, too:  1) Zoey Paws, 2)Dinky Donkey, and 3)Diamond Carrot.  Alexander who loved animals also wanted to get a Python that could be named Ordinal II, and an elephant that could smash small cars, but his parents said three pets were enough.  His mother said, “definitely no bats.” 

            Jaiden Grace had named their cat Zoey Paws, because when Zoey meowed, she had a Greek accent.  Alexander named Dinky Donkey, which originally was a bad expression, but later everyone came to feel since the donkey was about the size of a squirrel that Dinky was a good name.  Alexander wanted the little rabbit to be called just Carrot, but his YiaYia insisted on Diamond Carrot, because Diamond had three siblings, Club Carrot, Spade Carrot, and Heart Carrot.  She wanted Alexander to have the full deck of rabbits. 

            Diamond and Dinky did create some problems, though.  The both loved to eat carrots, so Carrie, the Mom, constantly had to run to the grocery store for more bunches of carrots.  Zoey was difficult too because she wanted spanakopita and moussaka, and unfortunately was developing a taste for retsina.  Paris tried to curb Zoey’s drinking, because he said it wasn’t good for the neighbor kids, like Lily, to see a drunken cat rolling down the stairs in their house. 

            At night Alexander prayed and his Dinky Donkey brayed.  Jaiden said if they couldn’t be quiet and go to sleep she was moving to Georgia (which made her Pappou and YiaYia very happy.)   She said living with Alexander was like living in a zoo.  Alexander told her to lighten up or he would get a small elephant to smash up her dollhouse.   Through all this commotion, Diamond Carrot was really quiet and he found a place to hide.  Nobody could find him for three days.  Paris said they had to pray to the St. Foustanella, and sure enough after everyone said a prayer, Diamond Carrot popped out of Carrie’s jewelry box.  He thought he could be camouflaged there with all the other diamonds!   He was scared, but Alexander promised Diamond that if he didn’t hide again, he would take him to visit his brother Club and sisters, Spade and Heart. 

            Everyone was in a good mood now.  I’m not sure if they were in a good mood because Diamond Carrot had been found or if everyone had been sipping Zoey Paws’ retsina.  No matter what, it worked out . . . . . until Alexander noticed that a possum had moved into their garage.   He just didn’t know what to name a possum.  YiaYia said call him The Big Pretender.