This week has been a week to reflect on life and what it has to offer. It’s been a week of devastating news left right and centre and with celebrating the 100th anniversary of Anzac Day, the title of this blog couldn’t be more fitting!

As I sat and watched my childhood favourite story Cinderella on Wednesday with my little girl and mum, the moral and values of this story are ones that every human should be exposed to…have courage, be kind! If only we all did this more readily. It made me stop and reflect as a parent – am I showing my own children this?!? I think I do? Do I use these words?!? Not enough. And it’s my job as their mother, to not only model this behaviour, but emerge them in this language.

I find myself using the words brave and nice a lot, but my new words now will be courageous and kind. If only every child knew what this looked like and felt like, I believe there would be less crime and hatred in this world. I believe if we were more kind to each other, this would create a ripple effect and filter through as a common denominator. I believe in pay it forward…be kind to someone, that person would be kind to someone else….

You only have to read some of the awful things that are evident on social media to realise how much hatred is in this world. The biggest one that sticks in my mind lately is the lady that received an anonymous letter from some of her “Facebook friends” letting her know that they were sick of seeing pictures of her baby daughter in their newsfeed?!? What the!!! Who does that? This is an example of 1. No self-control, 2. No tolerance, 3. Too much time to waste and 3. It’s down right mean!!!! The good old saying ‘if you have nothing nice to say then don’t say anything’ needs to be applied a lot more these days.

If we were more kind to each other, then just maybe the word “bullying” would start to vanish from the school yard and instead children would have their minds more free to be courageous! Courageous – ?!?! Never give up, strive for your best, have a go even when the odds are against you! Too often you see people just give up these days! When the going gets tough so often you see people just throw their hands up in the air and say “whatever!” ?!?! When and how did this become such a common behaviour?!?!

Anzac Day, is one of those times of the year where you hear non stop courageous stories of the brave men and women who fought for our country to allow us the life we have today…they never gave up! This is also evident in the many men and women who bravely take on a position in any of our defence forces to this day! It was so nice to march with our children for the first time on Anzac Day this year. They proudly wore their grandfather’s medals and asked many questions along the way. If this is one way to help them strive to be their best and learn about being courageous, then it’s definitely worth it.

I’m so lucky to have seen many people in my life who have been courageous and display courage everyday of their life. For me at the moment, knowing someone who is fighting a health battle with courage are the ones that I hold with the up most respect. My nana will always be one of the most courageous people I’ve met. Watching her and how she handled having Parkinson’s disease, without complaints, but still being able to enjoy the small things in life right up until she was unable to, this makes me want to be the best I can be and never give up!

Have courage…be kind! It starts from us as parents. We need to believe these words before we can teach our children to do so. If Cinderella can love and live happily ever after, after the tragedies she endured, then I think it’s fair to say we can all try to be more kind and courageous! Cinderella may be a fictional character, but I’m sure we all know a Cinderella…for me it’s my beloved nana!