Kindness Matters
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the term “Kindness” is defined as the quality or state of being kind. However, the term kindness can be further defined as the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate. Affection, gentleness, warmth, concern, and care are words that are associated with kindness. Kindness is sometimes considered as a sign of weakness or naivety however, the truth is, kindness requires utmost patience, courage, and strength.
All around the world, people suffer from one thing to another. It is not possible to understand or help everyone around us but one thing that we can easily do is practice kindness. As Dalai Lama quotes, “ If we remember that others too are human beings like us, we can extend a sense of kindness even towards those we think of as enemies. Be kind whenever possible.”
As parents and teachers, we often worry if we are bringing up kind children. It is not possible for a child to grow up to be a kind person if good practices are not modeled and rehearsed.
There are different ways to practice kindness. Being aware of your surroundings and listening to others, to identify the suffering or struggle are the primary steps to practicing kindness. As a teacher or parent, by being a role model yourself, you will be able to teach the children to be kind to others. Other than this, let me share some activities that can promote kindness in your classroom.
1. Random Act of Kindness
One of the most significant and important ways to instill kindness in children is to encourage them to engage in random acts of kindness. It could be as small as lending a pencil to as momentous as helping someone recover from their misery. As a teacher, you could ask your students to write thank-you notes or appreciation notes for their classmates randomly. This could be a weekly task that will help boost children’s positive energy.
Alokito Hridoy School has been engaged in promoting such random acts of kindness. Kindness trees placed in several places in the school focus on building empathetic relationships among children. Each child is asked to write what they have done that shows kindness, these acts may vary from helping a stranger to cleaning the classroom to helping a teacher. Each act of kindness is recorded by the students on small papers and pinned to the tree as leaves. The best or most unusual acts of kindness are then rewarded at the end of each month. These acts are also shared as stories by the students in their classrooms. The importance of placing the kindness tree in our school is to create an ambiance of trust, kindness, and warmth that teaches and appreciates each child for their act of kindness.
2. Acts of kindness challenge
You may create a kindness challenge week where you may ask students to engage in activities that showcase kindness. A challenge can motivate and excite children into completing a task and create a positive habit. You may give the children some goals. It could be something as simple as 5 acts of kindness throughout the week, it could be as simple as helping a friend in their studies to something as major as planting. You may keep a checklist or ask your students to make a checklist to record their activities. Once they reach their goals, do not hesitate to praise their courage and generosity. Last but not the least, after each child completes or reaches their goal try to reward them with a hand-drawn star or a paper crown or a title as, “Most kind person.”
3. Read books on kindness
I am quite positive that as teachers and parents we are already engaged in storytelling. We have been telling stories to our children from an early age. Storytelling not only helps in engaging our children but it also helps us deliver strong messages to them. As a result, reading books with good characters children can idolize can help instill kindness in them. There are many books like “The kindness tree” by Julia Leal, “The Rescue” by Ava Rose Scott, and many more.
4. Rewards and Positive Reinforcement
To motivate students, you can give them rewards or positive reinforcements. This does not mean that we have to give them gifts. It is important to understand that we should not give any rewards that may create greed in children. A well-timed word of praise or a task-specific compliment is all it takes to reinforce good behavior. Other than this, you may create certificates, cards, paper crowns to celebrate and acknowledge the acts of kindness.
5. Learn to value yourself
Apart from teaching our children to be kind to others, it is important to teach them how to be kind to themselves. Ask your students to note down any negative self-talk. Then, ask them to rewrite those in a positive manner. For example, if a student writes, “ I can never draw pictures.” Ask that student to write a positive affirmation that motivates himself or herself to improve drawing. The student may write, “ I’ll give more time and focus on drawing pictures. This way, I will be able to improve on my drawing skills.” Through this process, the student will be able to positively engage his or her negative thoughts. You may also instruct the students to stick their notes in places where it is easier for them to see every day and get inspired. This way, whenever any negative thoughts come to their minds, they can easily divert their focus positively.
Kindness can be found in the smallest of things. It is not necessary to move mountains to show or engage in kind activities or to show that you are a kind person. It is important to grow your kindness muscle through practice. On World Kindness Day, let us take a vow to be kind to one another and spread kindness around us, because as Mother Teressa quotes, “ Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.”
Reference
https://www.edutopia.org/blog/teaching-kindness-essential-reduce-bullying-lisa-currie
https://ideas.demco.com/blog/8-simple-activities-to-teach-kindness/
Written by
Adiba Karim, Communications Manager and Trainer at Alokito Hridoy Foundation
