During the holiday season, it’s easy to confuse kindness with gift-giving. But while the gesture of giving a present is a nice way of teaching your kids to think of others, being kind actually means recognizing when friends or family members need support … and doing something that helps them through words and actions.
This can be a hard thing to teach to children. While toddlers are natural empaths, kids lose this quality with age thanks to the influence of external factors including the adults, friends and classmates in their lives and television, music and social media.
There are easy ways to teach your kids about kindness so it comes more naturally to them. Here are 5 strategies to learn about kindness and help you and our child make the world a kinder place..
1. Read Books About Compassion
Your nightly bedtime story ritual is the perfect place to read books that model kindness, empathy and an acceptance of others from diverse backgrounds. While reading, emphasize the importance of how to love and support others by doing good deeds. Some book choices include Good People Everywhere, How Kind! and It’s OK To Be Different.
2. Create a Kindness Challenge
Teachers might ask kids to do nice things for each other as part of their classroom activities. You can do the same thing at home! Together with your child, create a list of kind acts they could do, either for their siblings, neighbors, teachers, community and you. Kind acts could include things like bringing cookies or other treats to neighbors, writing kind messages on the sidewalk with sidewalk chalk, helping a sibling clean up or picking up trash in the neighborhood. Ask you child to perform one item on the list at least once a week.
You can even create a kindness chart with rewards for reaching a certain number of kindness acts. This can help them stay motivated to perform kind acts but will also get them used to doing kind things for others, which will help them turn spreading kindness into a habit.
4. Be a Good Role Model
Kids learn best by observing what you do. If you want your child to be kind, then be a kind person! Avoid using abusive language or name-calling when arguing with your spouse. Treat people in the service industry that you encounter with kindness. Do kind things to support your neighbors and wider community. You kids will see what you do and how you speak to others and will follow your examples.
5. Use Role Play, Games and Stories
Sometimes, the best way to teach kids is through role play or fun games. If your child is going to a playdate, teach them how to play The Compliment Game, where kids gather in a circle and toss a ball back and forth. The person holding the ball must compliment who they’re throwing it to. If your kids like playing with dolls, pretend the doll has an injury and ask your child what they’d do to comfort it. Encouraging your kids to express kindness through words and actions is a great way to teach kids to treat others how they’d like to be treated.
Volunteer As A Family
Working together to help others is a powerful way to show your kids the effecst kindness can have. If you don’t already make a habit of volunteering, let your kids pick an activity that means something to them—they’ll be more excited to help, and the experience will leave a positive impact. If your schedule is hectic, opt for a virtual or home-based volunteer project that you can work on together
