Have You Filled Your Bucket Today?
Have You Filled Your Bucket Today?: A Guide to Daily Happiness for Kids by Carol McCloud is quite possibly the most useful children’s book that I have yet encountered. HYFYBT is not a typical children’s story. It really isn’t a story at all. There is no protagonist or character arc. HYFYBT is a how to manual on being happy for children.
The gist of the lesson is that we each carry an invisible bucket that we fill with good feelings about ourselves. We can fill other people’s buckets by saying and doing nice things to them. When we fill someone else’s bucket, we’re filling our own bucket, too.
The book goes on to explain that when we do unkind things (like being a bully), we are bucket dippers. Bucket dippers try to fill their own bucket by emptying the buckets of others. But that never works. Dipping into someone else’s bucket will never make you feel better about yourself.
The illustrations are cute, and the verbiage is simple without talking down to the reader. Our three year old is having some trouble with the concept of an invisible bucket, but he is starting to understand that when he gives us a hug or says “I love you” that he is filling our buckets, and his own as well.
One thing that differentiates HYFYBT from other lesson-oriented children’s books is that this is not tied to any particular form of spirituality. There are no references to the Bible, Koran, Torah, or anything else. This is a completely self-contained doctrine on finding happiness in being kind to others.
We’ve been reading it with our three year old for just two weeks now, and we are seeing definite signs that it is taking hold. Our 8 year old has cued in on it as well, and it has been a joy to see him taking the initiate to remind his baby brother about being a bucket filler, not a bucket dipper.
I wholeheartedly recommend Have You Filled Your Bucket Today? to anyone with a child under the age of 10. We could all use a little more in our buckets.
