A wonderful teacher contacted me to request some very special hearts for her brand-new kindergarten students at the start of the school year. She requested one batch of red hearts that children could carry on their first day of school to give them courage in the new environment. A second batch of pastel hearts would go into a special kindness jar for sharing in class as needed during the day, to offer comfort to anxious children and to teach and encourage kindness.
I loved this idea straight away and was so happy to make the hearts for the class. A few months later, I received this story from the same teacher:
“A little boy’s first day of Kinder and he speaks no English. His father gives him a mobile phone number on a piece of paper and says for him to ask teacher to call him if needed. In their native language, father gives a handmade felt heart to his son and explains its purpose (father’s love is always with son).
After lunch, the boy gives me the mobile number on paper and asks me to call. I reach for the phone, but the boy stops me.
He reaches into his pocket, gets out the handmade felt heart, wraps the phone number around the felt heart and holds it to his chest. He smiles. He no longer needs to call Dad and runs away to play.
Sarah, what you offer to all of us is a beautiful way to give and receive love, no words needed. The universal language of love. From the bottom of my heart... thank you."
No matter how much I read this story, I still get tears in my eyes and a welling in my heart every time. Thank you to the teacher who shared this - your students are blessed to have such loving support xx
