the invisible bucket

Excerpts from a class discussion during the last session of Summer ART Camp on August 25, 2017:

Did you know that you and me and every other living being carries around an invisible bucket all of the time?
You didn't?
Well, they do!

Do you know what's different about this special bucket?
It's lighter when it's full and it's heavier when it's empty.
And, you really don't know you're carrying it.
Isn't that funny?

Can I give you an example of how someone might fill their bucket?

Well, right now we are eating lunch and I see so much yummy and healthy food.  When you eat this food, how does your body feel?

Do you think assisting your body in this way empties or fills your bucket?

What are other ways that you think you can fill your bucket?

Who played leap frog with Keri yesterday?  Did that fill your bucket?  How about yours?  And yours? How do you think it filled your bucket?
Can I tell you something else about your buckets?  When you play with others like that you not only fill your buckets but you fill their buckets too!  Everybody gets to have full buckets!

I know many of you are getting really excited about starting school and riding the bus.  How many buckets do you fill when you say "Good Morning" to the bus driver or "Thanks for the ride!"?Althou

Child: "When I play baseball in the backyard with my Dad, I fill my bucket and his bucket!"

So what are ways we can fill our buckets and other people's buckets? <SO MUCH DISCUSSION HAPPENED HERE!>

Another child: "Every time we go to bed, does our bucket empty?"
I don't think so.  There are sometimes that I go to bed and I feel really good or really tired because I know I have had made the best of the day that I could and I go to sleep feeling my bucket is full.  There are other times when I might go to bed worrying about something and forget about all the other good things.  And those times, I feel my bucket emptying a bit.  In the morning, though, my worries don't seem as important, though, and then my bucket feels like it's fuller again.  Do you ever go to bed worrying? What do you do about worrying? <more discussion>

Based on the children's book titled, Have You Filled your Bucket Today? by Carol McCloud.
I think it's important to note that, although I think this concept is brilliant, I DO NOT ENDORSE this book.  The illustrations are dangerous and send a message of superiority and prejudice.  I believe the illustrations reinforce stereotypes that no one should have tolerance for (let alone educators).