Bucket Fillers

Although I do not write about books very often, I read them a lot. I read all of kinds of books. Political, cultural, religious, mysteries, thrillers, humor, knitting books and occasionally, even a classic.

I also read to the boys a lot. Of course, Riley mostly gets read picture books (since he's two years old) but he does, on occasion, throw a complete and utter fit if his request for the Bahbo (Bible) are not met with the immediate fetching of this Book before bed. (I am convinced he will grow up to be a preacher.)

For Tyson (who is seven years old) I read mostly chapter books. We have read half of the FableHaven series, a couple of Judy Blume books, the first Percy Jackson book and we are currently reading "Do Hard Things."

Although the request from his school is that the children read 10 books over summer vacation, I feel this is a pathetic goal. As we are learning from "Do Hard Things," children will generally live up to our expectations, no matter how low they are. So, Tyson reads at least one book to me every day. (He had already filled the chart from the school on the 8th day of summer vacation.)

Last week, we read this book:

... and I have to say that it is an exceptional book.

I've seen it in the counselors' offices in several of the school buildings I work in. It's a slightly concrete way of teaching kids about how their actions affect others around them.

The basic idea is that everyone has an invisible bucket, and when it's full, people feel good about themselves. Kids can fill up other peoples' buckets by doing nice things, showing good manners to others, and just generally behaving in a thoughtful manner. When we do things that fill the buckets of others, our own bucket gets filled up too. That's being a bucket filler.

When we are mean or inconsiderate to others, we dip out of their buckets. As a result, we end up dipping the goodness out of our own buckets, too. This is called being a bucket dipper. It touches on situations such as sharing with others and bullying.

The illustrations are adorable, and, although Jesus is never mentioned in the book (of course, if he was you wouldn't find it within five miles of a public school) it's a huge lesson in loving thy neighbor.

You can check out more about the book and other bucket filling resources here.