Happy Bucketfilling!

I have professed before my love of reading and my particular fondness for children’s literature. Growing up, I read Boxcar Children while perched in a treetop and spent hours plopped in my room adventuring with CS Lewis, Roald Dahl or Madeleine’ L Engle among others. I collected children’s books into adulthood even pre-kids and now find reading with my children to be one of the greatest joys of my days. I adore the color, whimsy and vibrance of the illustrations and the purity, truths and simplicity of children’s books. They communicate life lessons in ways that touch and stay with you.

Recently, my mother who is a music teacher met children’s author Peggy Johncox when she came to Mom’s elementary school to read her book Halle and Tiger with their Bucketfilling Family. Mom was most impressed and bought copies for all of her grandkids that were signed by Mrs. Johncox with the inscription” Happy Bucketfilling!”

This sweet book is the story about a family that takes an abandoned pet into their home and how they teach their new dog named Tiger about what it means to live with their bucketfilling family. The parents explain “Each of us has an invisible bucket. When it’s full, it’s filled with good thoughts and feelings. When it’s empty you feel unhappy.”

As they go about their day, Tiger learns more about the ways to fill buckets or how sometimes we dip into buckets. One fills buckets through love and kindness, sharing, working together as a team, listening and following directions, forgiveness or giving thanks. Making people feel bad, disobeying rules, falsely accusing others dips into buckets. And I like that the book reminds us that we all make mistakes. We will dip into others buckets from time to time and that admitting to our mistakes and saying we’re sorry fills them up again.

I also like that on the bottom of each page, there is a summary sentence and picture of either a bucket full of dog treats of a bucket spilled and empty. These messages and visuals provide clear and easy images for my kids to hold in their developing minds. In grown up terms, it’s similar to the Stephen Covey’s idea of the Emotional Bank Account with emotional deposits and withdrawals, but personally I like the bucket metaphor better.

We talk a lot about bucketfilling around our house – when we fill them and those times when we don’t. When my kids spontaneously give me big jump up neck hugs, I thank them for filling my bucket. When my son shares his stuffed animals with his sister to make her feel better when she is sad or hurt, I tell him “that was a very bucketfilling thing to do.” At a family dinner a few weeks back, my three year old helped her brother pick something up that he dropped and said proudly “ that was bucketfilling!” which we affirmed.

For Valentines’ Day each year I give books to my kids (along with chocolate hearts and little favors, of course). This year on Valentines, I encourage you to think about adding Halle and Tiger with their Bucketfilling Family to your children’s library. You could fill your neighbors’ buckets by collecting and donating books to one of our many local partner agencies serving children and youth. The more books the better in my opinion.

And I challenge you to strive to be more bucketfilling with your children, your family, your friends, your co-workers, your neighbors, even those who annoy you, those who make mistakes…those in need. Think how different the world would be if we all spent energies focused on replenishing everyone’s buckets?!  

How will you fill buckets in your family and in your community? Give bucketfuls!