Posts Tagged ‘kids’
On these two days, my wife continues to enjoy the smiles I give her and returns them back.
My mother-in-law has been by to visit with my wife a lot more lately – almost every day. That is a great thing since otherwise my mother-in-law just sits home and doesn’t see or talk to anybody. For sure, this is a quite a nice change.
My middle son continues to smile back at the smiles.
I posted these two days together since I did not get to the computer yesterday 
On this day I was somewhat busy around the house, but managed to get some grins in at my wife and kids. As usual, my wife was very receptive to getting a smile, giving one back. My second son also was again very responsive to smiles, giving one back nearly every time.
I stopped by my inlaws again and worked on a garden plot that we share, weeding and mulching. I got in a few smiles at my mother-in-law and she once again seemed to appreciate them greatly. This whole smiling experiment seems to have affected her in a very good way, even though I am only one person she sees on occasion. And it has taught me a lot about myself as well.
I was sort of busy yesterday and did not have a chance to post. So I will post to report on both Day 5 and Day 6.
Day 5 featured some challenges. My wife all of a sudden started making all kinds of requests: Paint the walls, fix the door, move this, build that, do this, do that. It gets a little overwhelming (for me) but I kept the smile and by later in the day all was happiness and bliss.
Day 6 was a nice day in that I was able to spend some great time with most of my kids. Two middle boys helped me with some yard work, then 3 of my kids and myself played a board game and then we all went swimming. Don’t know if smiling had too much to do with this, but I am sure it didn’t hurt. I am still smiling at my oldest son, and at least he is acknowledging me now, although I am not getting a smile back.
Yesterday (actually the evening before), I started a new smiling experiment. I have summer break now and am spending a lot more time around family. So this will be mostly an experiment around my wife and kids. Mostly my wife as my kids are busy doing their own thing much of the time.
My wife immediately responded in a very positive manner. Like night and day compared to the few days previous. And frankly, with this new experiment, I have been trying to be a bit more considerate as well. But, as I mentioned before, it is difficult to brew up a disagreement with someone if you are smiling at them and they are smiling back.
On this first day I made a quick stop at our local grocery store. I gave the lady that has known me for near 15 years a big smile and greeting by name. I think she was a bit shocked since she seems to regard me as a perfect stranger. It was a nice way to kick off this new smiling campaign.
My youngest daughter, just turned 8, is now a “Daddy’s girl”. She has been since the end of the Original 30-Day Smiling Experiment. She is so responsive to a smile. And I am happy to say that I never stopped smiling at her even at the conclusion of that experiment. So some of it “stuck”.
At any rate, I am liking this already. Stay tuned!
Well, this was the last day of this experiment, and it sure started out in a not-so-smiley way! My morning cup of coffee tasted like soap, which then gave me an upset stomach. This was followed up by my wife’s requests to fix the dishwasher. And meanwhile, I had a pile of work to do! So no, I was not smiling at the start of the day! But, after running some de-limer through the machine (which only took a few minutes to set up) and getting the dishwasher situation straightened out, things got a bit better!
This was a smiling-at-family day. The results were consistent with past results. In summary – It Works! All-around moods are better in the household. I wish I had video of before and after this experiment because I am certain that this household is a happier place now!
I paid a visit to my father-in-law and mother-in-law. Again, smiles to my mother-in-law communicated something to her that words somehow can not do.
Also, smiled at my oldest teen, but it seemed difficult to get much of any reaction from him this day.
Perhaps the most important thing I learned from this experiment is that:
People that seem to smile the least will benefit the most from your smile.
Somehow, some way, I must continue this experiment indefinitely. I plan to post periodic updates from time to time.
On this day, there was a unique situation that presented somewhat of a potential danger to both myself and the people I was around at the moment. (I can’t go into details) At any rate, it made smiling for both myself and those around me a bit challenging.
Otherwise, at my place of work, I smiled at colleagues and the reaction was positive. I think people are starting to accept the idea that I smile all the time now. Frankly, I like the whole scene since it is allowing me to make some new friends.
Smiled with and at family members. This continues to be a great thing. My oldest even bothered to tell me that he got an “A” on a test he just took – I think this is working!
This day started off really slow. Working from home is always challenging to get the smiles in. I had a lot of online assignments to correct on this day and it can be hard to smile when busy like this. But I made up for it later in the day. I surprised my wife by cheerfully agreeing (with a smile) to buy the new silverware set on sale that she wants – we do need some silverware since our old stuff has mysteriously been disappearing (kids).
My youngest daughter, age 8, continues to respond very positively to the smiling – she will want a hug many times when I smile at her! And, I have noticed that this daughter seems happier overall. She used to cry and complain over the littlest things but now she seems more content. That alone is well worth the effort of this experiment.
Tomorrow brings more interactions with the outside world. Only two more days!
Wow, for some reason it was just kind of hard to smile this day! But I tried. I visited a local bank and got in a smile at the teller, although she first gave me a big smile. There is another teller at this same bank that does not smile at all at anybody. What a difference! I smiled as much as possible with the family, although some of the kids were misbehaving, making it difficult to do so. As I said before, smile when you can . . .
I guess one significant thing related to this experiment was something I realized about my mother-in-law. I never mentioned this but she is nearly deaf but a smile was able to get through that barrier. In fact, that is all that was needed. I would bet a smile could also help you in a foreign land where nobody spoke your language as well. I would conclude that
A smile is a universal communication tool. It cuts across all language barriers and speaks volumes where words can not be spoken.
On this day I worked from home tending to my distance education courses so I did not get out to see anybody other than family. Up until this point, all my kids except my oldest have responded positively to all this smiling of mine. But on this day, even my oldest teen (17 years old next fall) responded well. And at one point, he even smiled back when I made a joking remark. Perhaps you should watch for this news item on today’s 6:00 news:
Breaking News! Even your 16 year old son or daughter will smile back if you smile at them enough!
Oh yeah, I forgot. A US Census worker stopped by to get our info. I gave her a smile or two. She seemed to really appreciate it. I am sure there are some folks that are not too enthusiastic to provide her the information she needs to get.
This Easter Sunday had us in church. I smiled at friends and most smiled back, as usual. But one thing that jumped out at me this day was that I found myself having a different outlook on those people I noticed that were not smiling at all: instead of worrying about me (why are they not smiling at me?), I shifted my focus to them and the possible difficulties and struggles they may be facing. There are situations where a person just can’t smile, no matter how hard they try. And there was at least one such person I spoke with.
Back at home, we celebrated my youngest son’s birthday. It was an enjoyable time for all our family and my wife’s parents (If you are wondering why we see so much of my wife’s parents it is partially because they live next door). Everyone was smiling, including me of course. Even my oldest teen at times. It was a fun afternoon. It is difficult to know if my smiling had an effect since it was a naturally smiley day. At any rate, I am quite certain that my added smiles did not put a damper on the event!
