17 Days to Make a Difference

Day 17

The last day of our challenge. I decided to start the day off by buying cream doughnuts for some of my monitors who have done a great job for the class and for me this term. Those students are Tom, Grace and Mathew, (awesome ICT monitors) Rebecca and Luke, (our wonderful class councillors) Nicole (a reliable and conscientious notices monitor) and Jack and Trent. (enthusiastic PE monitors) I put them in their desks for them to find. (By the way...I didn't have a doughnut for Luke...so I owe him one. Thanks for understanding Luke!!!

I organised for the class to play unihockey in the afternoon to celebrate the end of the term. I think they really enjoyed it. Noone said thank you...hint hint.

To finish off the day I went up to Foodtown to buy Mrs. Read a few well deserved treats.

Anyway, this is my last entry on my blog. I've enjoyed doing this challenge with my class. I'm so proud of them for what they have achieved. So many of the students made extra special effort to make a positive difference to the community they live in. Thank you R12 and thank you to all those students who commented on my blog entries. Your kind words encouraged me immensely!!!!!

17 Days to Make a Difference

Day 16

I wanted to go to the gym today but when I got home Mrs. Read really wanted to go shopping. I volunteered to miss going to the gym and encouraged her to go out. I took care of the kids, making sure they were fed and then put our son to bed. I wanted to do as much to help out as possible before Mrs. Read came home. I tidied the house and cleaned up all the dishes and the kitchen. When Mrs. Read got home she was very appreciative of my efforts and thanked me. She said that I must have been going like the clappers to get everything done! I was! I felt really happy and knew it was all worth it. Mrs. Read is an amazing wife and mum to our kids. I was glad she could have some timeout.

17 Days to Make a Difference

Day 15

Today I organised to talk to the Year 8 boys at morning assembly about the state of their changing rooms. I thought about all the things I was going to mention. I knew I'd done a good job as I saw a few students nodding off during my talk;always a good sign I feel. Hopefully the boys will respond to the request not to eat or mess up their changing rooms. Mr. Fletcher told me that it may get to the stage where the changing rooms are locked and the boys would have to change in the toilets. I think Mr. Fletcher was happy that I spoke up on their behalf. I felt I've made a positive difference to the school community.

Also, I gave Mrs. Read a nice back massage last night. I know she appreciated it because she said thank you. It felt good to be appreciated.

17 Days to Make a Difference

Day 14

I feel really good about my good deed today. It took a bit of time and effort. Recently the Year 8 boys changing rooms have been really messy. Some boys have been eating in the changing rooms and throwing their rubbish all around creating a huge mess for Mr. Sanders and Mr. Fletcher to clean up. I decided to make some signs to remind the users of the changing rooms about the rules. The signs also say to report any abuse of the rules to a Year 8 teacher so that we can sort out the culprits.

I drafted them on the computer, published them and arranged to get them laminated. Then I stapled a couple of copies up in the changing rooms. I hope the signs are effective and that the situation improves. I feel good about my good deed as this one took quite a bit of time and effort.

17 Days to Make a Difference

Day 13

Wow. It's day 13. Four more posts to go after this one. I'm determined to do some really good deeds to finish up. Today I thought I would shout the our daycare staff morning tea to say "Thank you" for all the great work they do with our kids. When I gave it to them they seemed really pleased and thanked me. I felt good that I coud make their morning tea nice and that they would also know how much Mrs. Read and I appreciate them.

17 Days to Make a Difference

Day 12

Today I really struggled with my 17 Days to Make a Difference. All I did was look after the kids so that Jenny could go out for a bit of a break. I would have done that anyway. I'm determined to do better tomorrow. I've already got a great idea. Check out tomorrow's post.

17 Days to Make a Difference

Day 11

Today was a cool day. I took my daughter Sophie to a birthday party. The party ended at 1:30 pm but I kept Sophie at Lollipops (the venue) until 2:45 so that we could give Mrs. Read a well deserved break. She had the opportunity to catch up on some sleep while our 10 month old son was also sleeping. I know that it's such a hard job being a mum and that she appreciates a little time out for herself. She always gives me time out opportunities which I appreciate very much.

17 Days to Make a Difference

Day 10

A pretty simple good deed today. I cleaned up the dinner dishes which in all honesty I probably would have done anyway. It was a huge day today and I was kind of struggling for good deed ideas. I really want to be doing things extra, things I ordinarily wouldn't do. I'll try to do better next week.

17 Days to Make a Difference

Day 9

I feel great about my good deed to day. I volunteered to bath the kids because I could see Jenny was tired and needed a break. I felt tired too but made an effort even though I just wanted to vege out in front of the TV with my coffee after an 11 hour day at work. Mrs. Read really appreciated it and thanked me and I enjoyed bathing the kids because they were splashing around together and having heaps of fun. Being a dad is very cool. I actually felt energised after their bath and enjoyed my coffee all the more. This 17 days to make a difference is helping me to focus on something special I can do each day. If I wasn't doing this programme I probably wouldn't have bathed the kids today as I felt so tired.

17 Days to Make a Difference

Day 8

Today I decided to tell my daughter a story instead of reading her a book.....something special for her. I told her about four elephants that lived in a pink house. One day the mum and dad elephants took the little elephants to the park. The baby elephant went down the slide and flattened it because it was too big. All the little boys and girls cried because their slide was broken. Luckily grandad elephant was driving along in his pink car, saw the problem and fixed the slide using the tools in his boot. And guess what the elephants did when they went to the park in the future? That's right! They never went on the slide again. And all the little boys and girls appreciated that fact so much. They made great friends with the elephants and they ended having so much fun with them playing elephant games.

17 Days to Make a Difference

Day 7

After staff meeting today I stayed behind to help Mrs. Campbell collect up the PE gear. I didn't help much but she said "Thank you" and appreciated it. I felt good because I know what it's like to finish a PE lesson and have to collect up and return the gear with no help. I always appreciate it when students volunteer to help me.

17 Days to Make a Difference

Day 6

Today I was looking for something really good to do for someone. Then I had an idea to do something really nice for my 2.5 year old daughter. I was shopping in Foodtown when I spotted a DVD called "Adventure Bus" starring her favourite character Barney. I purchased it and when I got home I made her close her eyes and hold out her hands. I gave her the DVD and her eyes lit up and she squealed with delight. She was so excited and wanted to watch it right away. In fact she didn't want to go to bed and when she did go she insisted on taking the DVD with her. I placed it by her bed ready for when she woke up. I felt really happy because she was so delighted with her "special DVD." I love my daughter very much. She is a special little girl.

17 Days to Make a Difference

Day 5

I was wondering what I could do today. The day was almost over and I hadn't done my good deed yet. Then I noticed my wife was having trouble feeding Sophie as she was being uncooperative. (You know....the terrible twos) She was naturally frustrated with the situation, so I asked her if she would like me to finish her off. She smiled and said "Yes please." Later I brought Mrs. Read a lemonade and cleaned up the dinner dishes. I knew Mrs. Read appreciated it as she said "Thank you" and looked much happier. I felt really good because I was able to give her a break.

17 Days to Make a Difference

Day 4

Today I wrote a card to send to a friend to encourage them, as they've been going through a hard time lately. I know that when people have encouraged me through hard times that it's made a real difference to my life at the time. We all need encouragement sometimes so that's why I sent it.

17 Days to Make a Difference

Day 3

Today when I got home from work my wife was worn out and tired after looking after the kids. Our daughter was asleep, so I volunteered to take Sam out for a while to give Jenny a break. We went for a big walk in the buggy, eventually ending up at Foodtown. I bought my wife some Movinpick ice-cream as a special treat to say thanks for being a superb wife and mum. She was very appreciative of not only the ice-cream, but the opportunity to chill out for an hour by herself. Jenny said thank you and gave me a hug which made me feel good.

17 Days to Make a Difference

Day 2

Today I gave my wife a neck massage because she was tired and worn out from looking after Sophie and Sam all day. She really appreciated it and I felt good because she was happy.

17 Days to Make a Difference

Day 1

My wife wanted to go out with her friends from coffee group so I looked after Sam and Sophie. She was really looking forward to catching up as she doesn't get to do that very often. I made sure everything was neat and tidy and that the dishes were done for when she arrived home. Mrs. Read was grateful and refreshed and told me all about her evening. I felt really good that I was able to give her the opportunity to hang out with her friends. She's an amazing wife and mum to our kids!