Your child may have come home from school today talking about buckets. In class, we read two very good books (How Full is Your Bucket? by Tom Rath & Mary Reckmeyer and Have You Filled a Bucket Today? by Carol McCloud) which explain a simple concept using a bucket as an analogy for empathy. The idea is that everyone walks around carrying an invisible bucket (yes, even animals - the kindergartners were adamant about this point!) and "it's purpose is to hold your good thoughts and good feelings about yourself." The books explain that you feel happy and good when your bucket is full, and you feel very sad and lonely when your bucket is empty. The kids are learning to be BUCKET FILLERS by showing love to others, by saying or doing kind things, helping others, or even by simply smiling at someone. We have realized that by filling others' buckets, we also fill our own, because it feels good to make others feel special. We have also learned that BUCKET DIPPERS are people who empty other people's buckets by making fun, saying or doing mean things to others, or ignoring others. They try to fill their own buckets by dipping into others' buckets but this never works - they are always left with an empty bucket. In class, we will talk often about what we are doing to fill our own buckets and others' buckets. If someone is being a bucket dipper, we call it that, and discuss how we can help fill up that person's bucket.
In all my teaching years, I have never found an analogy that explains these concepts as well as the bucket. It really appeals to children of this age and makes sense to them. You can support these ideas by asking your child each day if they did anything to fill up someone's bucket. Ask them how full their bucket is and how it got that way. It is also important to ask if they were a bucket dipper. I have found that students who were previously unable to recognize their own negative behaviour are more able to, when given this context. You can also remind them that Mme Katie has a bucket that gets filled or emptied each day by her kindergarten students. The kids are always all very nice to me, but I sometimes use it to highlight specific behaviours, like being helpful, listening to others, and using 'inside voices'. My bucket gets filled when children are respecting rules and respecting each other.
