It is unfortunate that the world we live in isn’t a kind place. On a daily basis, we see aggression and violence committed by those supposed to be our leaders, families, and neighbors. We witness children teased relentlessly for being different from their classmates. And it only gets worse as our peers become more judgmental and competitive with each other as they get older.
As parents-to-be, you want to do everything in your power to ensure your child is nurtured with kindness from a very young age. And that’s why the topic of this article is so important.
Kindness should be instilled in your child from a young age because it can have a big impact on how they interact with others throughout their entire lives. But how do you make sure this happens? It is what this article is going to focus on.
What Is Kindness?
There are many definitions of kindness, but one of them can be captured by the following sentence: When someone shows kindness towards another person, they tell that specific person that they want them to feel better about themselves or help them feel better about themselves in some way. Kindness is an act of helping someone feel better about themselves.
For our young children, it might mean patting the back of their worried peers, slicing a piece of bread in half to share with a younger sister, or waving to a senior neighbor. For older children, kindness might mean for them inviting a sad friend to join their table for breakfast, comforting somebody scared or lonely, or giving some of their money to a cause they care about.
Whatever kindness means to you or your child, it is essential to help nurture it in your kids from a very young age. Making our world a better place may seem difficult these days, but cultivating compassion and kindness in your family is doable. And because you have landed on this piece, it means that you are searching for ways to do that. At Montessori Academy, kindness matters for us, so it is one of our goals to help parents and teachers cultivate compassionate, empathetic, and kind young children. That’s why in this article piece, we will share some tips and techniques that have worked best for us:
Why Kindness Matters?
Why kindness matters for children? And why do we think it is important for you as a parent or educator to focus on increasing your child’s kindness quotient? You can answer it by looking at the following four points below.
- Kindness matters for society: Imagine what kind of society we would live in if people learned how to show kindness towards each other. A world where people would be more compassionate and considerate of others’ feelings. A world where people would treat each other with care, no matter if they were different or not.
- Kindness helps children develop healthy relationships: Kindness is also fundamental in building healthy relationships with others. If a child is always kind to their friends and family members, they will receive the same treatment back in return. And when your child receives the same consideration that they give others, they will feel important and loved.
- Kindness can reduce aggressive behaviors: Kindness teaches children that they should find ways to make others feel better instead of making others feel worse. In addition, teaching kids kindness can reduce aggressive behaviors like bullying and teasing because your child will be more concerned about other people’s feelings than how others treat them.
- Kindness helps improve self-esteem in children: In addition to developing strong relationships with others, teaching your children how to be kind can greatly impact their self-esteem. When they get the same kindness back in return, their confidence levels can increase and help them feel more accepted and loved by those around them. Having high self-esteem is crucial when it comes to healthy psychological development, and it is one of the biggest benefits of nurturing kindness in our children.
Building Kindness in Children
Teaching your kids how to be kind isn’t as hard as you may think. It can be done in many ways (more than one way can work for different parents/children), and it is as easy as teaching your child kindness in different contexts. As kindness matters, we believe that the best way to do this is by using a variety of gentle activities and habits to teach your child how to act with compassion and kindness towards their peers, siblings, parents, playmates, pets, and even other people from the outside.
6 Simple Ways to Help Children Become More Kind
1. Smile
Smiling at others can be done at any time of the day. And this can be done by being kind by not stressing out when your child has a tough time learning something new or when your child is upset. Smiling at others is also something that we can do when we are walking down the street, talking to our friends on the phone, or even sitting at our desks working on a project.
2. Say Thank You.
Unlike smiling, saying thank you is more of an intentional kindness activity that your child can practice. And it can be done a few times throughout the day by saying thank you to your child’s teacher after they return home from school and saying thank you to someone who has made an effort to help them out in some way.
3. Encourage Your Child’s Selfless Acts
One of the best ways to increase your child’s kindness and compassion is to encourage your child’s selfless acts. For example, helping an older person cross the street or giving a kid a ride when walking to school. Give time to praise these acts of selfless kindness. This way, your child will know that you are proud of them for taking the time to do something nice for others. And this can go a long way into making that behavior more common within your child over the long term.
4. Use Kind Language at Home
Most parents are aware of how important this is, but they often don’t practice what they preach. It can be a great place to start by speaking with your child in a kind and compassionate manner when you talk to them. Don’t just yell and scold your child if they are not doing what you want, be kind about it by explaining why you are upset with them for acting in a certain way instead of being harsh. It can teach children that kindness goes both ways – that people have feelings, and when someone is not acting in an acceptable way towards others, we as adults can teach them differently.
5. Make Our Children Apologize When They Hurt Other Person
It is one of the most important things you can do in order to teach your child how to be kind and considerate. If your child is rude or means to a friend, a playmate, or someone else, then make them apologize for hurting another person’s feelings. The best way to do this is by sitting down with your child and telling them how mean or rude their behavior was towards someone else and making them apologize for it. Doing this will show your child how they hurt another person’s feelings by their actions. And that it is not acceptable in any way, shape, or form.
6. Foster Empathy
Children need to learn how to empathize with other people. It is one of the most important skills that they can learn because it can help them become a better individual in the future. For example, when your child learns to be empathetic, they will be able to see things from other individuals’ points of view and understand their feelings better through their actions as well as words. It means that your child may be able to prevent bullying or teasing from occurring in the future because they will be more concerned with others’ feelings than their own.
In Montessori Academy, we know that kindness matters, and we understand that kindness is a valuable part of building strong and healthy relationships with our children. Learning to be kind can help them become more accepting, compassionate, and compassionate people who treat others with respect and kindness in the future. We believe that the best way to teach kids how to be kind is to do it every day, so be sure to incorporate some of these ideas into your child’s life as often as you can.
If you want to learn more about ways on how to instill kindness and compassion in your child, then don’t hesitate to call us at (323) 795-0200 for West Adams and (310) 215 -3388 for Culver City, or you can reach us using our contact form page. We would be glad to assist and help you in any way.
