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5 Ways to Teach Kids Kindness

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Teaching kindness to children is an important lesson to share no matter the age. My friend Joy Morgan Dey and her daughter Anna Skarie recently wrote and published a new book, One Gorilla, which they sent to us to enjoy. The children’s book focuses on the idea of paying kindness forward. Joy and Anna share their suggestions here for five ways to teach kids kindness. They include some wonderful examples of children’s books that share the lesson of kindness.

OneGorilla_BLM

My daughter and I sat down to read One Gorilla today and absolutely loved the watercolor illustrations by artist Nikki Johnson.

OneGorilla_BLM_Lemur

Nikki truly makes these animals come to life. One of our favorites is the lemur. Will these naughty jungle animals learn the lesson of kindness and the simple act of paying it forward?

5 Ways to Teach Kids Kindness

1.  Volunteer Together!

OneGorilla_dreamstime_l_8134449
Teaching someone else something they’ve learned how to do already (like reading!) gives kids a great boost.

There are so many opportunities to lend a hand in any community. Kids can help you volunteer at a food shelf or soup kitchen, at neighborhood cleanup projects, or simply by helping an elderly neighbor with yard work or by reading to them or just visiting from time to time. Get your child to look around for an opportunity and then help them carry out their idea.

There are also a great many online organizations where your church or your family can help in a big way, such as Feed My Starving Children. Again, there are many to choose from. The important point is choosing a volunteer opportunity that you can do together with your child, so that they see that this is important to you, too.

2.  Have Your Kiddo Donate

Learning to save and learning kindness, all in one drop of a penny
Learning to save and learning kindness, all in one drop of a penny

Children can be a big help in collecting, organizing, boxing and delivering donations. They like knowing that toys, books, or clothing that they have outgrown will find a new home.

They can also dedicate a piggy bank to a charity that you help them choose. Adding spare change to their special bank is an ongoing act of kindness, culminating in actually handing over what they have saved.

3.  Talk about what “pay it forward” means.

Two acts of kindness today becomes over a billion by the end of the month - holy coconuts!
Two acts of kindness today becomes over a billion by the end of the month – holy coconuts!

Kids might have heard this term, but not know what it means. Once it is spelled out to them, though, they’ll quickly understand the idea that one good deed begets another, that they can make a difference in the world they live in, make it a happier place. If your child is learning to multiply, they might like the Acts of Kindness Worksheet that shows how just two acts of kindness on day one can lead to over a billion acts of kindness at work in the world in one short month!

4.  Read Together About Being Kind

There are many, many, many good children’s books that teach kindness, from Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree

A favorite book around here.
A favorite book around here.

…to the fable of the lion and the mouse.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lion_and_the_Mouse. Also check out http://www.read.gov/aesop/007.html for a bit of an interactive experience.
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lion_and_the_Mouse. Also check out http://www.read.gov/aesop/007.html for a bit of an interactive experience.

For a good starting list go to www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/kindness.

And, of course we highly recommend One Gorilla, our book about making the jungle we all live in a better place one small good deed at a time.

Thanks for hosting us on our virtual tour!
Thanks for hosting us on our virtual tour!

5. Be Kind

Nothing new here, but very important. We can all use the occasional reminder to be just a little nicer, to go out of our way a bit here and there to reach out and help somebody. Typically, that small extra kindness costs us almost nothing, yet sometimes makes a very big difference to the receiver. Make a point of noticing acts of kindness in your family, your kids’ school, or the community at large. Get your kids to notice, and start to see how they can make a difference in their jungle.

"Be glad they're them and you are you, each a gem in life's marvelous zoo!"
“Be glad they’re them and you are you, each a gem in life’s marvelous zoo!”

Disclosure: I received a copy of One Gorilla for the purpose of review. All thoughts are my own. 5 Ways to Teach Kids Kindess written by Joy Morgan Dey and Anna Skarie.

6 Comments

  1. Looks like a great book for the kids to enjoy and great tips for teaching kids about kindness, very important to get kids involved.

  2. We don’t own One Gorilla but I think we should! Kindness is so important to teach and learn, and this would help my grandsons!

  3. We read to the boys every night before bed. I am going to add these books to our collection. They’d benefit from a lesson in kindness.

  4. we read together a lot about being kind. there are so many great books out there about manners and kindess !:)

    Thanks for all the ideas!

  5. That looks like a great book. We love just doing small things for some of our neighbors. My husband cleans out our elderly neighbors gutters and my boys help rake. I hope that is teaching them that even small acts can definitely make a difference

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