Being kind is a hugely important trait for kids to have and a recent survey which looked into Irish insights on kindness had very refreshing results.
To get some insight into being kind and to learn how to better teach our kids, MummyPages spoke to Trisha Ross Anderson, Research Manager at Making Caring Common, and Dr. John Sharry, founder of the Parents Plus Charity and adjunct senior lecturer at the School of Psychology in UCD.
How can I teach my children to be kind at home?
Most parents agree that raising kind and caring children begins at home, a sentiment that is echoed by both Trisha and John. When it comes to teaching our children how to be kind, they both agree that there are a number of things you can do:
- Model the kind of behaviour that you expect,
- Remind youngster that kindness is important,
- Praise good acts,
- Volunteer
- Make kindness an explicit value and an expectation in the home.
They also suggest you provide opportunities to be kind, for example, asking what your little one did at school that was nice for someone else.
An inability to show kindness is not really an issue for most households; however, as Dr. Sharry believes, it is how we react to situations when our child is unkind that we need to focus on. Not knowing how to respond to unkindness can actually make things worse and Dr. Sharry believes the solution is to use it as an opportunity to teach kindness and to resolve the situation in a kind way.
What about when kids are in school?
It’s not just home where kids learn to be kind, and considering the amount of time they spend in school, it’s no surprise that it plays a huge role in helping them develop the trait. Most parents of young children agree that kindness and consideration for others is part of their child’s daily experience in school and that the system supports them in developing kindness in their children.
And rather than focusing in on negative aspects like anti-bullying campaigns, Dr Sharry believes it is more important to be proactive with things like friendship week and having a caring school policy. Also working with your child’s school will, as Trisha says, enable kids to get concise information about being kind.
So what can you do to kickstart the 'kindness lessons' for your child?
One way you can be proactive in being kind is getting the whole family involved in Electric Ireland's Powering Kindness Week. Starting this Saturday, 17th January, the kindness spread by the Irish public will be transformed into a donation of €130,000 for three Irish charities, Childline, Irish Heart Foundation and Marie Keating Foundation.
Simply log your kindness through the Electric Ireland Powering Kindness website or through social media channels using #poweringkindness and tagging the selected charity.
At the end of the week, the charity with the greatest number of good deeds done in their name will receive a donation from Electric Ireland for €60,000 with €40,000 and €30,000 for the other two charities.
The essence of life is kindness, love and compassion, so it is no surprise that it is one of the most important traits you can teach your child.
