Filling our Buckets!

Are you a bucket filler or a bucket dipper?

The great book by author Carol McCloud titled Have You Filled a Bucket Today? A Guide to Happiness for Kids has inspired learners this week to actively explore kindness to themselves and others. What is a bucket filler? In short, you fill your bucket by doing focused work, helping a friend who asks, inviting a friend to lunch, or sharing why you like being friends. When you show kindness to a friend you not only fill your bucket but your friend’s bucket too. How do you know? You know you’ve filled someone’s bucket by the light you see in their eyes and the smile on their face that causes their whole body to glow. Kindness is a super power! What are bucket dippers? Rule breakers and friends who hurt friends with mean words or actions. 

The stage has been set and we invite you to use the language of buckets at home with your learner. The choice to fill or dip is important. When in tough situations in the studio, we’ve been asking “were you being a bucket filler or bucket dipper?”, “what is a bucket filler choice you could make right now?”, or “if you were just a bucket dipper what one thing could you do to be a bucket filler?”.

Kindness can be beautiful and inspiring yet it doesn’t always come easy. It needs to be practiced and modeled. Questions are the first step to decision making. Perhaps at the start of every day we can ask “how can I fill someone’s bucket today?” and at the end of each day ask ourselves “did I fill a bucket today?”.