Kindness
What is it?
Kindness is the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate.
Why is it important?
Children are often quick to announce when someone has treated them badly and are sometimes surprised when another child offers an act of kindness. This makes sense because developmentally, children are focused on their own needs. When we model and teach kindness, we help children to develop this skill and create a positive culture in our classrooms. Children need to experience kindness to be able to reproduce it. It’s our job to help them balance their needs with the needs of others, and learn that kindness toward others helps meet both sets of needs.
School Connection
Your child will be learning how to recognize acts of kindness and understand that doing kind things will help them feel good about themselves.
How to Support Your Child at Home
Mailing Kindness
Kindness is universal, but we all express kindness in our own individual way. We all have our own ideas about what it feels like to be treated kindly. Take a moment to consider what you think kindness is, and what it looks like in your family.
Create a homemade postcard to send kind thoughts to friends or family. You may choose to hand-deliver or send by mail. Taking the time to create a note helps to spread a little kindness and foster positive feelings towards others.
Step 1: Cut thick paper into a rectangle or use an index card.
Step 2: Have your child decorate one side of the postcard with a picture or words.
Step 3: On the back of the picture, draw a line down the middle, write the address on the right side, and ask your child to dictate a personal message for you to write on the left side.
Examples could include: “I am thinking of you!” “ Can’t wait to see you soon!” Or, “remember when…” Emphasize messages of kindness and good feelings.
