At Rising Stride Child Care Centers, we think every day is a good day to spread kindness in our schools and communities! Continue reading our blog for a few ideas on how to encourage kindness in children, schools, and communities.
Easy Ways to Encourage Kindness
A random act of kindness can be anything that brings joy to another person. It can be as simple as complimenting a stranger, sending an encouraging text message, picking up litter, holding a door, or thanking someone who has made a difference in your life – like a childcare teacher!
Think of a few ways that you can incorporate kindness into your family’s daily routine. By focusing on small acts that you can perform every day, your child will learn that it is easy to be kind – and help them imagine a world where kindness is the norm.
Children’s Books That Teach Kindness
There are many books that reinforce the importance of kindness. Here are a few of our favorites, and ideas for discussion points you can use to reinforce the books’ themes with your child.
Kindness Is My Superpower by Alicia Ortego
This book teaches children what it means to be kind, caring, sensitive, and generous. After reading the book, talk with your child about how you can extend kindness to someone who is having a bad day.
Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña
This story follows a young boy and his grandmother as they ride the bus, witnessing kindness, beauty and joy throughout their trip. Ask your child to share kindness they have seen and experienced in recent days, and make a plan to spread kindness in your community.
Have You Filled a Bucket Today? by Carol McCloud
This book uses the concept of “filling buckets” to demonstrate how easy and rewarding it is to express kindness and love. Talk with your child about how you can fill the buckets of loved ones and strangers alike.
At Rising Stride Child Care Centers we teach children mindfulness exercises so that they can visualize how it feels to receive kindness and to share it with others. We help them make connections between kind acts and the creation of a more positive community, both inside the classroom and outside of it. Instilling the value that each and every person is worthy of respect, care, and kindness fosters the sort of cultural equity that we seek to extend far beyond in our classrooms.
Each and every person matters. Everyone deserves to be treated with kindness.
Each and every person matters. Everyone deserves to be treated with kindness. We all have a part to make this world a kinder place to reside in and it can be accomplished by each of us being aware of our actions and modelling kindness to our children.