Pebbles of Kindness (& poison, but I prefer kindness)

Today, I presented to ~300 4-9 year old students about mindfulness. I closed my presentation by talking about ways we can proceed with kindness. I walked the students through the visual of tossing a pebble of kindness into the pond and the ripple effect that follows. It's a big concept for little people and one that requires some follow up. 
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Well, tonight I had the perfect opportunity! My son was shattered because we recycled his empty bottle and he decided, after we left, that he wanted to keep it. He cried and raged the entire walk home. Yet, we all responded using a kind but firm tone. 

Once he had calmed down (through connection), I spoke about the pebbles of poison and the pebbles of kindness. I reminded him about my presentation today (both of my boys were there) and we chatted about how his toxic emotions had a ripple effect on our family. I also highlighted how his brother, father and I worked very hard to respond with kindness. I then asked him if we wanted to throw in the "pebble of kindness" or the "pebble of poison" into tonight's bedtime "pond". He appeared to like this metaphor and chose kindness. 

Now, if he had chosen poison, I would have separated the boys and my littlest and I would have had our own story time while my partner would read to our eldest. As it was, we all read together and then they boys decided to lie together for their nightly meditation. 

Parenting success? We will see! 

Tomorrow, I will bring out our pebbles that I had been saving for painting and we'll paint them after school. To make this a more meaningful lesson, we will revisit the "pond" and kindness/poison concept again, and again, and again. Perhaps we will make a pebble for each emotion: Kindness. Anger. Joy. Hurt. etc. We can then create a home for our pond in my meditation corner, and when he's feeling a big emotion, we can see see what pebble he would like to toss into his pond. 

Then again. Maybe we'll just play outside! Teaching these concepts is a work on progress! 

What creative ways do you teach kindness to your children?