Encourage kindness in your kids with the following ideas:
- You will get more of what you focus on. Pay attention to whether you are noticing the faults of others or their acts of kindness. Adjust your focus to align with the values you want to teach.
- Model acts of kindness. Help all those you can. When you notice others who seem to be behaving in a hurtful way, take a breath and wish them well instead of judging them.
- Create a "Ways to be Helpful" book. Take photos of the kind acts you see in your family and school (holding a door open, cleaning your space, making grandma a get-well card, doing chores). Bind them in a book for meaningful reading.
- Record acts of kindness. Take turns being the "kindness recorder." For every act of kindness you see or experience, put a heart in a basket or an artificial flower in a pot. Share some of the kind acts at dinner or bedtime.
- Play kindness charades. Family members or classmates can act out the kindness they have received from others. The observers can try to guess who the helpful person was.
- Write notes of kindness. As you express your appreciation to others, be specific about what they did and how it helped you. Leave letters around the house, on pillows, in lunchboxes, and in the car.
