Have You Filled a Bucket Today?: A Guide to Daily Happiness for Kids (Bucketfilling Books) - Softcover

This book was first published in 2006 to teach young children, primarily ages 4-9, how to be bucket fillers. Since then, bucket filling has spread around the world to help millions of people of all ages have happier and more rewarding lives. In this revised and updated edition, the verbs "bucket dipping" and "bullying" have replaced the nouns "bucket dipper" and "bully" to help readers understand that "bucket dipping" and "bullying" are negative behaviors (what we are doing) and not permanent labels (who we are). Readers will also learn that you can fill or dip into your own bucket.

I first learned about bucket filling in a seminar for early childhood educators in the 1990s. The speaker, a brain research expert,said it is helpful to think of every person as being born with an invisible bucket. The bucket represents a person's mental and emotional health. You can't see the bucket, but it's there. She said that it is primarily the responsibility of parents and other caregivers to fill a child's bucket. When you hold, caress, nurture, touch, sing, play, and provide loving attention, safety, and care, you fill a child's bucket. Giving that love is filling buckets.

In addition to being loved, children must also be taught how to love others. Children who learn how to express kindness and love lead happier lives. When you care about others and show that love by what you say and do, you feel good and you fill your own bucket, too.

As you read this book with children, use it as an opportunity to model this concept by filling their buckets. Tell them why they are special to you. Help them imagine whose bucket they might fill and what they could say or do to fill a bucket. Tell them whose bucket you filled that day. Practice with them to become daily bucket fillers. Very quickly they will experience the pride and joy of filling buckets.

Learn more about bucket filling through our website, bucketfillers101.com, and be sure to sign up for our free e-newsletter,BUCKET FILLOSOPHY® 101. Keep filling buckets and your bucket will always be full.    

This heartwarming book encourages positive behavior by using the concept of an invisible bucket to show children how easy and rewarding it is to express kindness, appreciation and love by "filling buckets.

Updated and revised, this 10th anniversary edition will help readers better understand that "bucket dipping" is a negative behavior, not a permanent label. It also explains that it's possible to fill or dip into our own buckets. For more information on bucket filling and free downloadables and resources, visit bucketfillers101.com.