When thinking of ways for my family to conceptualize service (it’s tough), I came up with a simple idea. I drew a simple tree outline on a piece of poster board, each branch representing one member of the family and labeled as such. I wrote Family Service Tree on the top, and dug out some very basic garage sale-type dot stickers from our kitchen junk drawer. Now, whenever someone in our family recognizes something kind that was done for them by someone else in the family, they can put a dot on the service giver’s branch. I like that it reinforces spontaneous kindness, but like that it equally reinforces that acts of service are not always rewarded in the way that you’d like (no dot, people!), but that it is still valuable for it’s own sake.
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I love this idea so much. I can see how my kids would get excited about seeing their branch wildly decorated with the most dots!
We do something similar called the “peacemaker pot,” which involves writing the name of the person and the act of kindness on a piece of paper and putting it in a bowl. Once a week we go through and read them all. While the promise of a “peacemaker point” can be a great bargaining chip in times amidst conflict (especially in a strained whisper in public), I love how the service is acknowledged by the receiver (and sometimes not acknowledged)!