The Best Ways to Teach Your Children Kindness
Raising well-rounded children is easier than it sounds. You can send them off to school and also teach them at home, but the world is still full of abstract concepts and ideas that are harder for them to grasp. You can teach them these concepts in different ways, but each one is different and requires the utmost care. Read on to learn the best ways that you can teach your children about kindness.
Work With Your Community
One of the best ways to teach your children about kindness and how to be kind is to work with your local community. Everyone should partake in acts of service, and you must work on these early and often with your children. Serving is a great way to teach them how to be kind and selfless, but these acts also make your community a happier place.
Teach Kids Empathy
Serving also helps teach your kids empathy and to see that other people are just like them—people who you can work with to support and raise up. Acts like these help teach your children that the world doesn’t revolve around them but that every person and community is important.
Teach Them About Those in Need
Similar to the last point, you can also be explicit and teach them that some people need more help than others. For example, you can donate different items to charity and bring some of your kids’ old clothes and toys, or even newer clothes and toys, and give them to people in need.
Make It Personal
However, you shouldn’t simply put your kids’ things in a box and tell them what you did. Instead, every item should have a story, reminding them that they’re giving it to someone who hasn’t been able to read or play around as they did, but now they can with the donation.
Watch Some Movies
Another great thing that can help children learn kindness while showing them some more abstract examples of it is movies. Movies often present a fictitious representation of that world, and they can explore the idealized version of kindness in that world. Certain characters can be incredibly altruistic, but it also shows that characters can make nearly world-shattering mistakes, but you should still show them kindness.
Movies To Watch
Some great examples of movies to watch are Lilo & Stitch, Paddington, Kiki’s Delivery Service, and anything with Mr. Rogers.
Teach your children kindness with these activities, and you’ll start to notice that your children are thinking about their actions more. Each and every interaction isn’t a time for them to take care of themselves, but a time for them to show kindness to others and ensure that everyone is happy. It’s also important that this isn’t a one-off lesson, but rather a lifetime of choices that the whole family can make to better enrich the lives of everyone around them.
