The Easiest Random Act of Kindness—A Smile!

by Jyl Johnson Pattee on June 20th, 2009 | 1 Comment »

Summer of Service Challenge Mom It Forward Smile

10 Ways to Make a Difference This Week By Smiling

1. Smile inside to give yourself a compliment or a pat on the back for a job well done.
2. Start your day out on a positive step by smiling at yourself in the mirror as you are getting ready.
3. Smile at each family member first thing in the morning.
4. Have a "best smile" contest with your kids to see who has the silliest, funniest, prettiest, nicest smiles. Have each child vote and win prizes in the different categories.
5. Have a "smile stare down" contest with your kids, family members, or friends to see who can stare the longest with a big grin on his or her face.
6. Go on a walk with your family members or friends and count who can smile at the most people. As an added bonus, count how many people you can get to smile back at you.
7. Take pictures of your kids doing their "best smiles."
8. Make a smile photo album, where you capture each person in your family, smiling in several different settings.
9. Keep a smile log of how many times you smile during a single day and how many times someone else causes you to smile.
10. Keep a smile journal for a day. Write your thoughts and feelings about what smiling at others and others smiling at you does to your mood, your emotions, and the overall tone of your day.

How Will You Be Prepared This Week?
kodak_logo-new_rgb Please share with us:

What other ideas do you have for smiling?
How smiling made a meaningful difference this week?

This week's SOS Challenge is sponsored by Kodak.

How Else Can You Make a Difference This Summer?

Make a meaningful difference this summer by taking the Summer of Service (SOS) Challenge. Here's how you can participate:

Commit to do one act of kindness/service based on the week's challenge.
Leave a comment with ideas relating to the week's challenge as well as your experience(s) performing it.
Grab the SOS button in the sidebar and put it on your blog or social networking site.
Enter to win each week's giveaway. Check out this week's prizes from Kodak by clicking here.
Join #gno this Tuesday to connect with other Mom It Forward moms about the challenge.

Bio
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Jyl Johnson Pattee

An active part of the Mom It Forward team, Jyl primarily writes about parenting, social good, and all things travel related. In a past life, Jyl was an award-winning copywriter and designer of corporate training programs for Fortune 100 companies. Offline, Jyl is married to @TroyPattee; a mom to two teen boys and a beagle named #Hashtag; loves large amounts of cheese, dancing, and traveling; and lives in the beautiful Rocky Mountains. Topping her bucket list is the goal to visit 50 countries by the time she's 50.