Boy-Style Giving ~ a la Legolas vs. Gimli

 The boys are loving to rip open their 'mission' for the day each morning as we discover new ways to give, serve and love those around us this month. Today's mission was to SMILE... At everyone! We discussed how a simple hello and a big smile can be such a precious gift to someone.

 

For one of my boys a ready smile and a quick hello come easily.  This is the child that would flirt endlessly with anyone who would look his way as a baby and toddler.  He'll talk to just about anyone.  That no-fear and ready trust have been tempered a bit as he's become older.  Son number 2 was born scowling.  I used to joke that those first two boys of mine made a great team.  Xander would provide the friendliness and manners and Keegan would make sure they didn't get kidnapped. 

 

So as we set out to run errands this morning (i.e. find stuff to try and remove the crayon stains from all of our clothes due to a crayon that went through the dryer...), we decided to take advantage to the opportunity to spread some smiles. 

Mr. {Middle} Grumpy-Pants told me stubbornly in the parking lot that he didn't have any smiles to give.  Little does he realize that with my 8+ years of boy parenting under my belt, I can outsmart him!  I pulled out the old competitive spirit and challenged the boys to see how many people they could say hello to in the store.  My oldest jumped on board immediately and was smiling away.  It didn't take long for the other two boys to get into it as they came running up to whisper their 'smile-count.'  It reminded me of that battle scene at Helm's Deep in one of the Lord of the Rings movies where Legolas the elf and Gimli the dwarf had a friendly rivalry going with their kill-count.  No, my kids have yet to see those movies, but they didn't need to in order to find inspiration for a friendly rivalry of their own...  I think that is just hard-wired into boys. 

 

"I smiled at that lady, Mommy"

 

"Well, I smiled and said 'Hi' to that mother and her little boy."

 

And so it continued until they all ran up to greet our check-out lady.

 

They received many smiles in return and it was a good first day of learning the benefits of the gift of a smile.