When I think of how my husband, and I taught and continue to teach our son kindness my mind keeps racing back to Mr. Rogers. Mr. Rogers taught empathy, grace, compassion and kindness. He taught us how to be good neighbors. That message resonated with me as a child and I remember thinking I want to be a good neighbor, but the reality of that message is so much greater than being a good neighbor.
Being a good neighbor extends outside of the neighborhood and into everyday life. Being a good neighbor was an effective way to teach kids these wonderful values about how to be kind in life. I know we all want to raise kind humans. In fact, my hope for my son is that above all else including good grades, is that he’s always kind. So how do you teach children about kindness? A lot of people probably already do these things without realizing it, but here are some intentional ways to teach kindness.
1. Talk to your kids about kindness.
Help your kids understand what kindness means! Even before they are old enough to act kindly you can start talking about it. Being kind takes practice and you can start by explaining it to them, so they are able to realize and recognize when a friend or family member is upset or needs help. Then we can encourage kids by suggesting ways to be kind and compassionate to help make situations better.
Those little ears are always listening even when we don’t think so. For example, you know how to be kind when your neighbor has a baby, perhaps bringing over dinner is the kind thing to do. But pose that as a question to your child. You could say something like: Mrs. Smith just had a baby, what’s something nice we can do for her that would show kindness? You are opening the door for a conversation about kindness!
2. Read about kindness.
Books are powerful and picture books are a favorite of mine! If you don’t already know. What I love about reading books out loud with kids is that they spark conversation. Sometimes I feel like we don’t have the right words for our kids but children’s book authors are so talented. Read with your children about kindness and compassion and sit back and listen as you’ve just opened the door to a whole new world of conversations with them. “I’m Almost Always Kind” written by Anna Milbourne and illustrated by Asa Gilland, uses a lighthearted, silly little boy’s perspective of what it means to be kind and some of the pitfalls that come along with being kind. The moral of the story is that to truly be kind you have to look at things from other people’s perspective and I just love that way of thinking about kindness so much!
3. Show kindness everywhere you go.
A great way that we do this with my son is donating books to local little libraries all over our town! He loves it. We have lots of books, so this is something that’s easy for us to do and he gets such a kick out of filling those little libraries and giving back to kids in our community. Other ideas could be donating toys and clothes to local shelters or churches. Your ideas don’t have to be extreme; they just have to be ideas that you can follow through on!
4. Start with simple words.
Thank you, please and I’m sorry are a good place to start! Teaching manners and respect is an early step when it comes to kindness, plus since we are raising our kids in our home this will make the house more enjoyable.