As many of your know, I am one of Fishful Thinking's faculty moms.
Its a fabulous program, and I am thrilled to be part of it.
The other night, we had a conference call about kindness in our kids.
Can I tell you how fascinating it was?
Research shows the earlier you begin modeling kindness, the more likely your kids are to be kind.
It got me thinking about our home and the things we are modeling for The Boy.
What about you?
What are you doing to instill real, everyday kindness in your kiddos?
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6 showin' comment love:
Honestly, nope! I am often too judgemental and realize that's how my teen boys are now too. I'm trying to change that every day!
Being a mother has me suppounded by constant witnesses. I have been hearing myself coming from the mouths of my babies. I am now being even more careful with my words and actions than I was before.
I think that is a wonderful observation. I have two ways that I work on my kids to install kindness. One has to do with animals. We've always had pets - usually cats, but a few dogs & fish too. One one hard line, unbreakable rule is that no one is ever unkind to an animal in our house. Doesn't matter if it's a kid, a guest, or a friend, it simply is never tolerated, and so my kids are extremely kind to all animals.
The other thing has to do with kids who are "different". Whenever they talk about a kid who is weird or goofy, or different in some way, my advice is always to ask them to be extra nice to that kid. I know that kids have a lot of different problems and some of them, like autism or ADHD aren't necessarily obvious, but I know they get a lot of flack for their actions and it makes for a hard life. So I make a point of asking my kids to be nice to them, and I hope that helps.
I really enjoyed the call too. Fun to catch up with everyone and hear ideas on this topic. Loved the phrase you used - "Hands on Kindness" - that really is key! We are actually doing a simple service activity today with our new homeschool group. The kids will be creating "crayon masterpieces" and we're sending them to Color-A-Smile (www.colorasmile.org). This organization distributes children's artwork to nursing homes and Meals on Wheels in an effort to bring smiles to others. :)
I loved your hands-on kindness idea, too! I've thought about it several times since our call!
Scarves Scarves
Next year will be better this year, a slight malaise and fatigue
Wish all of the network of friends have a new start, and I myself wishing, wishing to family health, work success
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