Several times a week, I write small notes on pretty stationery for my three-year-old daughter to take to kinder the next day.

Sometimes the note is about how she shared a toy with a sibling, other times it is about how she helped someone without being asked and often it is praising her for saying thank you or please.

In our family, we call them mitzvah notes.

The Hebrew word mitzvah is often translated as a good deed, but perhaps the best way to describe a mitzvah is an intentional act of goodness and kindness.

My daughter proudly takes her mitzvah notes to kinder, where her teacher reads them out loud to the whole class. The notes are then pinned to a wall filled with other children’s mitzvah notes, celebrating the good deeds of her three-year-old peers.

So, while other children covet stickers or prizes, my daughter is thrilled when she gets a mitzvah note and loves it when she has one to take to school.

As a parent, I spend a lot of time thinking about what values I want........

© The Guardian