Kids4AL : Shoe Boxes of Hope

Last Thursday (5/5), Abby's Daisy troop leader emailed about putting together Boxes of Hope during Friday's meeting for the children affected by the terrible tornadoes in Alabama. We scrambled to get things together to fill two shoe boxes - including basic toiletries, puzzles, markers, notepads, books, squishy ball, etc...

 Knowing that "these boxes of activities and games [would] give children hope and something positive to focus on during this time" made the last minute scrambling totally worth it. Seeing these first grade girls sitting on the floor - items scattered - and filling the boxes was really an awesome sight.

There's a whole slew of ways to help on the Kids4AL page, a list of Helping Heroes, and how WE can give to these children and families who have suffered so much heartbreak. (You can also follow Kids4AL on facebook and Twitter .)

While gathering these shoe box items with my kids, I couldn't help but think of this bit of info that Dr. Reivich shares about "Hope" - one of the five Fishful Thinking ingredients:

Having optimism and hope doesn't mean denying problems. But, people who are optimistic tend to focus on the positive and to focus their efforts on the aspects of a situation that they can control. Hope and optimism are important skills that will benefit children across their lives and as parents we can help instill these thinking styles in our children. The goal is NOT to deny that bad things happen, NOR is it to teach our children that they have complete control over what happens in their lives. Rather, the goal is to help our children see situations fully and accurately — which includes seeing the positive elements of a situation — and to focus their energy on helping to bring about positive outcomes.

It's truly been amazing to see how people are reaching out to make a positive difference in the face of this tragedy...even little Daisy Scouts.