Tips To Teach Kindness
Teaching kindness is a vital value to instill in our children, it teaches empathy, compassion and moral character. How does one teach this trait to children? Our character Warm-Hearted Walrus has a few tips to help you get started:
Be a role model for as much as you think your child isn’t watching what you do or listening to what you say, the truth is, they are.
Do charity work, allow your child to accompany you on some of these events, such as:
a. Helping out a neighbor, by mowing the lawn, shoveling he walk way, baking a dish if they are ill, listening to what they have to say
b. Volunteering at a community event
c. Donating to a local food pantry
Use kind words in your home, be good at communicating
Use kind actions in your home and include your children
Learn to be a better listener, this is something I think many of us could improve upon
Ask your children questions, be open and honest and sincerely concerned and they will open their hearts up to you
February 17th is Random Acts of Kindness Day. Visit our blog post for more ideas here.
““For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone.”
~ Audrey Hepburn”
In the picture above I introduced the children to Warm-Hearted Walrus and discussed what it means to be kind. We talked about helping others as a kind act, and decided to do a Food Pantry Drive for the community. This also was an opportunity to share with the students that there is a Food Pantry in their community that helps others and that they can be a part of this. They got a tour of the facility and saw where they kept the supplies that were readily available for those who needed them. It’s important to teach our children that we are all different, yet, all the same. Not everyone has a home cooked meal on their table or food in their own pantry. Your own child may not know that there are struggles that happen in the world, and it’s up to you to decide how you want to share that with them, but, there are struggles and if we all can do a little bit for each other, it does mean a whole lot. The students helped to decorate a large cardboard box which was then put up front of their classroom for families to learn about and allow them to donate as they could. At the end of the time period, we took a trip to the pantry to show the children where their donations were going to and introduce them to this opportunity and help make a difference in their own community.
This then grew into the awareness of the fact that there are families in the community who needed some support. During the holidays, the children wanted to continue their kindness and collected hats, mittens and scarves to donate to different facilities in the community to help make sure that others were kept warm, just like they were. These acts of kindness imbed in a child’s heart, they begin to take on an awarenss of their community and notice that sometimes others need a little help, and, that they were able to think of ways to help make a difference. If it’s donating to a food pantry, helping a neighbor or a friend, it all makes a difference!
February has a day dedicated to Random Acts of Kindness. Shouldn’t every day include these acts of kindness? In my opinion, when a child is more aware that not everyone is as lucky as they are, or, that there are others who are luckier helps bring up conversations right in your own home. This is a good opportunity to share with your children the differences and if you, your family and your children are able to make a difference, I hope you do so. I wrote a blog for Random Acts of Kindness Day, you can find it here. Would you like to do some activities with your children or students to learn about Warm-Hearted Walrus, we have a few videos on Youtube you might enjoy.
Tell me and I forget, Teach me and I remember, Involve me and I learn. Benjamin Franklin