5 Ways To Teach Your Kids To Be Kind
We live in a really harsh world. Everywhere you look you hear stories of bullying and horrible things going on. I hate to think of sending my kids out there into it all. But the only way I can change the bigger picture is to start at home by teaching my kids to be kind to others. Just like everything else important in life this is not something we can leave to be taught by others. It has to start at home and as soon as possible. It has to be deliberate.
I received compensation from Ripil for this post. All opinions are my own.
Here ware five ways to teach your child that kindness matters.
1.) Be an Example- Everything in life comes down to this. Your kids watch what you are doing more than they hear what you are saying. Speak kindly to others, speak kindly to them. Let them see you serve others. When you take dinner to a friend who has a new baby, let them help! They will see that these things are important to you and that they make you happy.
2.) Teach Them To Speak Kindly- When you kids yell at their siblings ask them to rephrase what they are saying. I feel like a broken record but the sentence, “Can you think of a kind way to say that?” leaves my mouth a million times a day.
3.) Read Books With Kindness Messages- Books are a great way to introduce and discuss any topic with your kids. Kids love to read and talk about books so use them to open up conversations with them. There are a ton of books out there, but Horton Hears a Who by Dr. Seuss is one of my favorites for talking about kindness.
4.) Pitch In & Work Together- Show your kids that you work together as a family. That we all do chores and work together because we love each other, not because of allowance or rewards. For example chores like cleaning up your toys, picking up your dirty laundry and helping clear the table after dinner are things kids are expected to do because they are grateful for what they have and are part of your family team. Extra chores like vacuuming or window cleaning could be used for them to earn money etc.
5.) Track Your Kindness- I recently started using Ripil. Ripil is a free app that let’s you log your kind deeds and see how they keep going and affecting others. Much like a ripple in a pond kindness starts as a small drop but can spread to something much bigger. Log in and start a kindness challenge with your friends. For example challenge your friends to buy someones drink and enter it into the app. A map will keep track of everyone who participates and you can literally watch your kindness spread around the world. Super cool, right?!
My favorite thing about this app is it provides a deed of the day. For the past few days me and my three-year-old have been doing them together and it has been a blast. Things like mowing a lawn, or taking cookies to a friend. Today’s was to give someone a hug! We had so much fun spreading the love!
The best thing is that when we really started using Ripil and pointing out kind deeds, he has wanted to do more. In turn there has been less fighting and more small caring moments that I have noticed between him and his sister. It has been so fun. Kindness is something you can’t stop spreading once you do, and isn’t that what we need more of in this world?
How do you teach your kids to be kind?
So cute! Love all of your pictures! 🙂
Thanks for these great tips. I think the app sounds helpful too.
Being kind is such an important skill to teach a child. It is something that will follow them their entire lives. By being kind around them, the kids will learn by example.
Modeling it is the absolute best way. I like this Ripil app too, and that would be another way you can show your child how it’s spreading.
We are working on teaching kindness to our toddlers right now. We also use edu-tainment with Netflix Kids Shows! 🙂
Those are all great ways to teach the kids. I try to lead by example and I think it’s working 😉
My daughter would be all over that hug day 🙂 Setting the example is definitely crucial as “monkey see monkey do” truly applies to kids and their parents.
There are so many ways to be kind, but this is a perfect start! Your kiddos are adorable.
For us, kindness starts at home. We need to remind our 2 year old about hitting an yelling, but I know that a lot of it is just being a toddler- she’s very loving and we are sure to commend her for that!
I agree that pointing out kindness is a huge step in teaching kids to be kind to others!
Great post. The world is in short supply of kindness these days, but maybe we can remedy that by teaching our kids the value of it.
Great post! It’s important to teach kids to be kind and have empathy. Those are traits that the world needs more of.
These are all great ways to teach your kids kindness. Especially by example and by reading books with good messages!
How adorable! Teaching your kids kindness is always an important thing to do! Also, his little shoes are adorable LOL!
I think we do it just by showing them… we are kind to them and each other and they see it… 🙂
I love it! What a neat idea. My husband is SO good at asking the kids, “Is there a better way to say that?” I need to learn from his (patient) example. 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
I remind my kids to to treat others the way they want to be treated. All parents should teach their kids to be kind..it starts at home!
What a sweet post. Love your son’s slippers – LOL. Being kind is something I teach my 5 kids daily, it is a struggle at times though.
We have raised our kids to be polite and offer help. Hands keep to yourself unless helping another up.
This app is so neat! Being able to have little reminders is perfect! Being a good example is one of the most important things I can see for teaching kids to be kind and this app helps with that too!
These are great tips. There are so many ways to show someone kindness.
this is super important and kids model everything they see so its most important for us as parents to set a good example early on.
These are wonderful tips, I find my kids that are more boisterous and loud – need to be reminded to be gentle and think before acting. Sometimes their personality to be so strong minded comes across as unkind.
What a great post. It is never too early to teach kids this important life skill.
I give my kids the words to use when they’re not being kind. It works really well and they’re finally starting to use them without prompting.