a peek inside the fishbowl

24 Mar, 2012

You make a difference to me

Posted by andrea tomkins in: Yaktivism

I don’t know the origin of this particular homework assignment, but a few weeks ago my eldest came home with one that was pretty interesting. I am still thinking about it.

Using materials around the house she had to make four ribbons and label them with a particular phrase:

You make a difference to me!

Her task was this:

  1. 1) Give two ribbons to two different people and
  2. 2) tell each person how they make a difference in her life.
  3. 3) Then, the recipient was told to take their extra ribbon and give it to someone who makes a difference in their lives.
  4. 4) This little trail had to be tracked and summarized in a written report.

The eldest gave Mark and I the two ribbons. I gave my second ribbon to our youngest, and he gave one to his co-worker. I gather she was surprised by this unexpected gift. :)

It’s a pretty neat assignment, don’t you think?

How often do we tell the people in our lives that they are appreciated? Any why does it take an occasion  - like Christmas or a birthday or Mother’s Day or a homework assignment -  for us to remember that the simple act of appreciation is so important?

When it comes down to it, isn’t this the very core of what we all want? To be loved and valued? Why is it so hard to express this appreciation sometimes? And why are those golden words of appreciation sometimes so hard to accept?

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3 Responses to "You make a difference to me"

1 | Pam @writewrds

March 26th, 2012 at 8:10 am

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Love this idea. Those words are powerful.

2 | TorontoMom

March 26th, 2012 at 10:35 am

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Recently I was Indigo with my nine year old daughter. She was showing me a book she was excited about when I heard an Indigo employee say “ Oh my granddaughter loved that book – great choice!” I looked back, and sure enough it was the lady who has helped me over the years ago select books for first my daughter and then my son – books that would become our family’s favorites.
I turned to her and said “You may not realize this, but for years you have helped me pick out books for my children starting when my daughter was a baby. I want you to know that you to know that you have helped her become the devoted reader she is today and I just want to say thanks”.
Her eyes welled up and she was so genuinely touched that I would share that with her. I was so happy that I took the time – we all want to know that what we are doing is making a difference in however small or big a way. That experience taught me to really look at the service people/shop owners/care givers/neighbours we encountered each day and when appropriate acknowledge the difference they make in my family’s life. Your daughters project is wonderful ! Congratulations to the teacher who built it into his/her curriculum.

3 | Javamom

March 27th, 2012 at 10:06 am

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Oh how lovely! What a neat idea.

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