PIF: Day Twenty-Three

Pay It Forward: Day Twenty-Three

After a trip to the doc this morning to see if Little Dude had an ear infection (he doesn't), we went to the zoo. He asked if we could go home and get the stroller and go. It was the perfect plan as there usually aren't too many people at the zoo this late in the season and if he was in the stroller there wouldn't be too many opportunities for him to touch things. Yay!

It was just us and a school group for the 2 1/2 hours we were there, which leads us to our Pay It Forward today. Little Dude was waiting in line to use this educational exhibit at the "watering hole" (zebras, ostriches, and rhinos). In front of us were two 10 year old-ish girls who each took a turn spinning this wheel-do-hickey, when the first girl went to spin it again and they both paused looked at Lil' Dude and said it was his turn. It was a really nice gesture and one that we really appreciated. So, I took the time to track down their chaperone and let them know how kind the girls were. She applauded the girls and told them what a good job they had done representing their school. Woo hoo!

This reminded me of when we had gone to a museum in January of this year and a pair of young boys who sat with us to eat their lunch were so great to engage Liam and chat with him while we all ate. And, when I got up to start clearing our trash--the boys put both Liam and I's chairs away while I was busy cleaning. I took a moment to find their chaperone too and she braced herself for a complaint. You could see it from her head to her toes that she was ready to defend her group from a helicopter parent. So when I gave her praise about her group, she asked me to specifically point out the two boys, asked them for verification that they had indeed helped us out. And, promised both of them an extra treat when they got back to the classroom.

It's easy to be overwhelemed by school groups when we are out and about. So, if you see a group or even a few students doing great moments of kindness--please, take a moment and tell an adult what a great job they are doing. Wouldn't you love to hear that about your child after a day out and about on a field trip?

Also, we had numerous opportunities to hold doors open for parents with really young children today. It was nice to be able to do the classic "nice" thing for folks.

At dinner we happened to be sitting next to a family with a young son interested in going into the IT field, so Tim passed along his e-mail address and offered to see if they had any internships that might work out for him. 

Last but not least, Liam paid for dinner tonight. (Wasn't that nice?) He won a photo contest and we used the gift certificate to treat him/us to his first experience at a Japanese Steakhouse. He did great and it was awesome to see his reactions to everything. Thanks, Little Dude.