Why

Take a look around!  As you have walked through grocery stores have you noticed the adults don’t have any or have very little interaction with you or any others?  What is the eye contact? What’s the interaction?  Do the people you look at have anything nice to say?   Do they say hello?  Do the acknowledge you?  

When you come across kids, you are more likely to get eye contact from a kid or acknowledgement of existence.  Kids are authentic in their engagement with you.  Kids are more likely to say, “Hi!”  They are more likely than an adult to ask you a question.

Kids are the pure form of being authentic: caring, curious and about having fun.  They naturally care and are friendly without expecting anything in return.  Kids can have fun with anything and anybody.  Kids can have just as much fun with a cardboard box as they can with a bicycle.  They can have the same quality of fun in the dirt as they can with Legos.  Kids live in the moment! 

I have observed one of my nephews acknowledge adults and people around him by pointing out what he likes.  I have noticed, on numerous family get-togethers, how he points out something he likes that people are wearing or have in their house.  He does this authentically and it make those people feel important. 

The Big Kid for Life way of life operates with the same premise.  We truly can change or make a difference in the mental health of the people in our world by acknowledging positive qualities they possess, recognizing efforts they have made, or by quite simply, just saying “hello.” 

In developing the Big Kid for Life web site, I am working to create a place of enjoyment and pure fun, not at the cost of anyone. The focus of this site is to have fun with people and not make fun of people. Through the lens I see life, I truly want to create a site you can visit periodically to share humor and make people laugh and enjoy the moment. 

The Big Kid for Life shirts open the door of opportunity.  As I have started to wear the Big Kid for Life shirt, I often get comments from people I meet.  All the people that have made comments have been very friendly.  They truly, “Get It!”  They smile and have always said they like the shirt.  

If you were given a bracelet and are visiting the website, we have met in our travels and you have either made a comment about the shirt I am wearing our have been given it for the positive, authentic encounter we have had.  We have enjoyed each other’s company without an expectation of anything in return but the positive interaction.

When I was traveling back from San Francisco, my wife and I stopped at a Mexican food restaurant in Fairfield, California.  As we were walking to my table, a lady said to me that she liked my Big Kid for Life t-shirt.  I handed her one of the bracelets that I wear.  She smiled and asked me, “What was the cause?”   My response to her, “The cause is creating as many positive interactions as possible and enjoying the moment with each other without expecting anything in return.”

The plan of site is to add a blog to share observations, interactions and fun-loving activities that embrace the spirt of a Big Kid.

Q: How do I get one of the shirts or bracelets?

A: This is a work in progress.  We are developing the ordering system.