I have a rather obsessive personality. All my Christmas shopping is done and wrapped in July. I have insanely-detailed lists for everything from my family’s daily schedule (did we remember to clip the kids’ nails?) to house repairs. I’ve even planned my entire funeral which may sound crazy, but I simply don’t want my husband or my kids to shoulder that burden when the time comes.
When I believe in something, it…is…ON.
About a year ago, the story of a 68-year-old bus monitor named Karen Klein being harassed by middle school boys splashed across nearly every newspaper in the country. Kids not only bully kids; they’re now bullying adults? “The world is just mean,” I thought. “Something has to be done.”
So, in a hormone-induced frenzy from my fourth round of childbirth in six years, I dreamed of a kinder, better world for my kids. In my house, we now call ‘that world’: Wear the Cape.
Wear the Cape is the idea that we are all everyday heroes, or at least capable of being heroes by doing the right thing, the kind thing, the helping and inclusive thing. It is the hope that we can teach our children the power of kindness and good character, making our communities better places to live.
I liked the idea of using apparel and gear to spread the word and transform attitudes: celebrating diversity, looking out for the underdog, practicing kindness, and being grateful. So, I tapped a very talented friend to design a t-shirt and drawstring backpack. If you check out the ‘Wear It’ button on the right-side of the screen you can see the Cape T-shirt (the cape always has got your back!).
Stay with me, as I swear this is more than just a shameless plug for you to buy a t-shirt or spend money. Each product comes with a Hero Tag. Hero Tags create teachable opportunities for parents to discuss character building while sharing the coolness of kind. They present different scenarios that will likely be encountered by our country’s youth and challenge that they be thought through – What’s the right thing to do here? What choice would best exemplify Wearing the Cape?
And even more, these t-shirts are key to Wear the Cape’s big plans for giving back. I’m committing to donate 10 percent of net proceeds for the sale of apparel and gear and 100 percent of the donations to the kidkind foundation that I’ve set up, because I want to be sure to do some cool things to help people who are living the Cape values and help kids around the country gain confidence in being “good people”. I’m not sure exactly what that looks like yet, but I welcome ideas.
When my kids come home from school or a play date, or they’re just hanging around each other, I now say to them, did you Wear the Cape today? Meaning, were you nice, did you use manners or did you help someone else today? Let’s hope they don’t get sick of me asking … as I believe Wear the Cape is me channeling my inner OCD in the best way possible.
Thanks for reading … I hope you’ll join the WtC movement, give me your thoughts on where Foundation proceeds should go (looking for lots of creative ideas!) and come back for more musings.