RACK

RACK, or Random Acts of Christmas Kindness, is a new tradition we will begin this year. We are trying to raise our children not to be entitled brats. We want them to know the holidays are about spending time together with friends and family and that it is always better to give than to receive.

By now, most people know about Pintrest. I spend way to many hours on their pinning things I may  not ever make or do. This idea, though, is something we have discussed doing but didn't really have a well thought out plan. I saw this idea (and the acronym) on Pintrest, so I can't fully take credit for thinking of this.

Basically, we will countdown the 25 days til Christmas by doing one nice thing in our community every day. We aren't sure which activity we will do or in what order, but something will be done together every day. Here's a list of ideas we are tossing around. We plan to have a family meeting and vote on which ones will work best for us:

Donate books (probably to Shriner's Burn Institute.)
Donate old toys
Donate new toys / adopt a family / Toys for Tots
Project Linus
Adopt a troop / platoon
Cookies for neighbors
Cookies for firemen
Cards for nursing home
Quarters on bouncy balls
Candy canes on ATMs
Operation Christmas Child
Donate food to pantry
Donate personal care items to women's shelter

I'm running low here and need 25!! Share your thoughts and I will be sure I take pictures and post about things we do!  Stay tuned.

Jackson's Parent Teacher Conferences

As expected, Jackson is very well behaved in class. Also as expected, he was described as "shy." Upon speaking to Mrs. M a little more in depth, we discovered a better word choice may be unintrusive. He doesn't want to interrupt or draw attention to himself. He's the opposite of an attention hog.

This is something we have been struggling with for years and while no one ever believes us, this really is a huge improvement over years past. He will share in class, he raises his hand to participate, he answers his teachers questions with more than one word replies. This IS an improvement.

We discussed his reading and math skills (both above grade level) and how he really loves school. He is such a people pleaser. The most impactful part of the conference involved me crying (yes, in front of the teacher. I know, totally embarrassing.) when Mrs. M told me she knew I was a good mom. That is all I want to be. We expected his life to present some challenges and there have been some, but it's far fewer than we pictured and he excels at so many things. It is truly amazing to see him fitting right in and the other kids not even knowing he's a little different.