The Kindness Box

[Geoff-Allen]

Math. Writing. Kindness. What do these three things have in common?

They're all skills to be taught, practiced, and reinforced. Of course, we also mess up and learn from our mistakes with all three. And they're all things we can get better at, no matter our age.

Today, we're rounding up one month's worth of kindness activities for kids.

Make sure you stay on track by downloading and printing our complete calendar of kindness activities listed below.

31 Kindness Activities for Kids

Enjoy a month of smiles with these kindness activities for kids. Explore 31 ideas to teach your kids how to be thoughtful and compassionate.

biglifejournal.com

Enjoy!

 

[Geoff-Allen]

It is commonly known that demonstrating kindness positively correlates to our own happiness. If you’ve ever found yourself looking around at our cutthroat world and wondered about the value of kindness, recent research out of Oxford University is for you. Using rigorous science, researchers there proved that by practicing just seven days of small, random acts of kindness is enough to bring significantly more joy to your life.

Kindness is interesting, in that unlike an emotion such as happiness, or a feeling and action like gratitude, kindness is mostly a behaviour or action. Through years of experience, we each have been trained in our thoughts and perspectives of what kindness is, what it means, what the intention behind someone’s kindness is (PositivePsychology.com). So, get kind more often and enjoy the benefits of how it makes you, and those around you, feel.

Why acts of kindness make us happier | Get Mentally Fit

It is commonly known that demonstrating kindness positively correlates to our own happiness. So why do acts of kindness make us happier?

www.getmentallyfit.com.au

Cheers!

 

[Geoff-Allen]

It began in the simplest way. Over lunch with girlfriends, Debbie Tenzer listened as they argued over the state of the world – war, crime, schools in Los Angeles – and how they felt helpless to change anything.

Ms. Tenzer found herself resisting that view – and began to think what she could do.

"OK, I can't fix needy schools, but I could give them my children's old schoolbooks," the mother of three recalls telling herself. "I can't end the war, but I can send a phone card so a soldier can call home and feel comforted. I decided then I'd find a way to do one nice thing for someone every week."

DoOneNiceThing.com inspires do-gooders to keep it up

The website grew out of Debbie Tenzer's pledge to make a small gesture of kindness every Monday.

www.csmonitor.com

Enjoy your browsing!

 

[Geoff-Allen]

Kindness compliments for kids - more than I may have anticipated -

Compliments for kids are one of the overlooked ways parents can show love to their children, and compliments are so powerful! One of the things that iMOM’s counterpart, All Pro Dad, encourages dads to do with their child at every All Pro Dad Chapter meeting they attend is to tell everyone around them why they are proud of their children. My husband has told me on more than one occasion that this is his favorite part because our kids light up when he says why he is proud of each of them.

99 Compliments for Kids Printable

Kids love to be complimented—especially by their moms. Check out these 99 compliments for kids and share a few with your children every day.

www.imom.com

Enjoy!

 

[Geoff-Allen]

Continuin the theme -

The degree of success you get from the Compliments Project really depends on how much you put into as a teacher. The Compliments Project involves risk-taking and trust, so it is imperative that teachers do a bit of groundwork before giving it a go. Students need to understand the value of the project so that they can participate fully and get the most out of the Project.

Developing A Positive Classroom Culture: the Compliments Project - Top Teaching Tasks

In this guest blog post, Chelsea Donaldson shares a fantastic way to develop a positive classroom culture. I first saw Chelsea speak about this

topteachingtasks.com

Enjoy your browsing!

 

[Geoff-Allen]

Everyone has lots of neighbors, and they come in many shapes and sizes. Obviously, the people living across the street are neighbors, but in some sense, so are the people you live with. Friends, relatives, co-workers, and all the people you know are neighbors. So are the people at the market or walking past on the street. Other living things are neighbors as well, such as cats and dogs, birds and bees, ants on the kitchen counter, and plants and trees.

There’s also a neighborhood inside each of us. The human body contains about 100 trillion cells—and at least as many microorganisms that are neighbors, too. Plus, consider your mind. My own mind is like a village with many characters at different stages of biological and psychological evolution, chatting or arguing with each other. All the parts of your mind—the pushy internal critic, the playful child, the longing for lasting happiness, the calm voice that talks you off the ledge—are neighbors of a sort.

Be Kind to Your Neighbors

A Personal Perspective: Compassion and kindness express inner freedom.

www.psychologytoday.com

Find Rick on YouTube if you was curious!

Cheers!

 

[Geoff-Allen]

Dozens of stories about the power of kindness -

DailyGood: News That Inspires

DailyGood is a portal dedicated to sharing inspiring and positive news from around the world. We feature one story every single day.

www.dailygood.org

All the best!

 

[Geoff-Allen]

Your child announces he's in love and dropping out of college to travel with his beloved across the globe. Your uncle makes a politically charged comment over a holiday meal. A doctor brushes off your concern, reiterating a line of reasoning you've already discussed. It can be a bewildering, enraging, or disempowering experience when something so clearly true from our perspective is so adamantly at odds with another's point of reference. "At home, at work and in civic spaces, it’s not uncommon to have conversations that make you question the intelligence and benevolence of your fellow human beings," writes Professor Julia Minson, Ph.D., who has spent years studying ways that parties in conflict can behave to make others feel they are thoughtfully engaging with their perspective. Drawing from computational linguistics to analyze thousands of disagreements, Minson and her team identified ways in which people engage each other with conversational receptiveness. Drawing from those techniques, they outlined a method and training called "HEAR" -- Hedge your claims. Emphasize agreement. Acknowledge the opposing perspective. Reframe the positive.

READ FULL STORY

Cheers!

 

[Geoff-Allen]

Much more at the Tiny Buddha website - for example -

Many of us are brought up today to look after number one, to go out and get what we want—and the more of it we can have, the better.

Our society preaches survival of the fittest and often encourages us to succeed at the expense of others.

I was no different, and while I noticed a tendency to feel sorry for others and want to help, I was too busy lining my own pockets and chasing my own success to act on these impulses. I worried that kindness was me being soft and, therefore, a weakness that may hamper my progress, especially at work as I moved up the ranks.

It was only when I quit my corporate career, after years of unhappiness, to realign my values and rebuild a life around my passions that I learned the true value of kindness and how it has impacted my life since.

Kindness Isn’t Weakness (and We Need It to Survive) - Tiny Buddha

Kindness increases our sense of fulfillment and joy, it helps us build resilience, it strengthens relationships, and it’s also a source of strength.

tinybuddha.com

All the best!

 

[Geoff-Allen]

Kindness conversation - turns up a few! - for example -

Empathy is a skill, not a personality trait. At every age, we can get better at understanding and connecting with those around us. It starts by simply asking, what is it like to be them?

Sarah Aadland, Doing Good Together

Start Kind Conversations — Doing Good Together™

Studies show that conversation is an undervalued but hugely critical tool parents can use to nurture compassion.

www.doinggoodtogether.org

Cheers!

 

[Geoff-Allen]

How can we help the hungry?

Checkout this page for a few ideas to reflect on -

Help the Hungry — Doing Good Together™

By volunteering together, you and your family can make a difference to those who are experiencing hunger or food insecurity.

www.doinggoodtogether.org

Plus more reflections on right-hand-side of that page!

All the best!

 

[Geoff-Allen]

Let's talk about kindness -

Kindness & Compassion Conversation Starters for Kids - Kidsguide

Promote meaningful conversations with your kids about showing kindness and compassion towards others. Use these printable cards as a starting point to teach ...

kidsguidemagazine.com

Scroll down to a few more links such as racism.

Enjoy your browsing!

 

[Geoff-Allen]

Most parents share the goal of raising kind children, but in a world filled with new forms of media and digital interaction this can feel trickier than ever before. Our kids are growing up surrounded by negative social media comments, catty text threads, snarky videos, and outright bullying. This leads many of us to wonder how we can best support them to rise above and engage kindly with others.

As with all things related to technology, it’s crucial for parents to have open and meaningful conversations with children (of all ages) about being kind online. We can’t assume they know it’s important and will act accordingly. Kids require guidance and strategies as they grow and encounter more challenging interactions and behavior in the online realm. In this article we will explore several key conversation topics and provide strategies and tips to help you guide your children towards kindness in the digital world and beyond.

Being kind online: conversations to have with your child

Half of teens report they’ve been on the end of bullying online. Helping your child spread kindness is important to make the internet a safer place.

www.qustodio.com

 

[Geoff-Allen]

Age-by-age guide to raising kind kids -

Practicing Kindness: An Age-by-Age Guide — Doing Good Together™

This month we want to share kindness skills by age – which skills are best practiced when. As COVID-19 constraints continue to linger, it’s worth remembering that spending time doing good for others has been found to lower stress, anxiety, and depression. Enjoy these simple – and fun! – ideas.

www.doinggoodtogether.org

Cheers!

 

[Geoff-Allen]

I recently asked my friends and family, "When you think about instilling kindness in your kids, what do you mean by kindness?" They had many different responses: compassion, generosity, empathy, justice, alleviating suffering. But every answer involved an underlying consideration for others, rather than acting only out of self-interest. It makes sense that this is also the definition of humane, because kindness is the most fundamental expression of what it means to be a human being.

Kindness is about "seeing with your heart," explains Angela C. Santomero, author of Radical Kindness: The Life-Changing Power of Giving and Receiving and co-creator of Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. For our littlest kids, this might mean patting the back of a worried friend, waving to an elderly neighbor, or breaking a cookie in half to share with a younger brother. For older kids, kindness might be inviting a lonely classmate to join their lunch table, comforting someone who's sad or scared, or donating some of their allowance to a cause they care about.

6 Ways to Teach Kids to Be Kind

The best thing you can do to make the world a better place is to create a culture of kindness in your own home. Consider these ways to show your children why the Golden Rule rules.

www.parents.com

Cheers!

 

[Geoff-Allen]

Kind words depression - for example -

The best way to respond to an individual who is struggling with depression is with support and openness. Depression is an often invisible and isolating condition that is misunderstood by the general population. Platitudes and blind solutions can be off-putting to someone who is depressed. Instead, be open to hearing them out, and ask them if and how they would like you to help.

If you know someone with depression, understanding a bit about how depression symptoms affect people and how to treat depression can be helpful. It’s also important to communicate non-judgemental support. It can be hard to know what to say sometimes, but try to stick with supportive words vs. prescriptive solutions.

“Listen, first and foremost. Empathize with what they express to you. Be present in the moment with them and try not to focus on what you should say to them or how you can help them.” – Dr. Sheila Dowd, Rush University Medical Center

What to Say to Someone Who Is Depressed

The best way to respond to an individual who is struggling with depression is with support and openness. Depression is an often invisible and isolating condition that is misunderstood by the general population. Platitudes and blind solutions can be off-putting to someone who is depressed...

www.choosingtherapy.com

All the best!

 

[Geoff-Allen]

At the risk of labouring the point? -

Be open about depression

Lots of people can find it hard to open up and speak about how they're feeling. Try to be open about depression and difficult emotions.

This will help them know that it's OK to talk about what they're experiencing. Speaking honestly and with no judgement can let them know that you’re ready to listen.

The best things that friends and family can do is simply listen. They often don't need to say anything, just being willing to listen to your problems makes you feel less alone and isolated.

Helping someone with depression

It can be hard when someone you care about struggles with low mood or depression. Read our tips on how you can support them - and yourself.

www.mind.org.uk

All the best!

 

[Geoff-Allen]

So what can we do about this epidemic of loneliness? How can we better connect with others and get our social buckets filled? I strongly believe in the Golden Rule: The principle of treating others as one would expect to be treated themselves. As one of my recent patients exclaimed, “KINDNESS, PEOPLE!”

One way to better connect with others and reduce isolation/loneliness is to reach out to others in kindness. Look for opportunities to help others. Some of my most powerful memories are of moments when I connected with someone through service. Recently the Nixa area was struck by a powerful windstorm. The news called it the most devastating weather event since the ice storm of 2008. In response to this storm, neighbors, friends and even strangers came together to help clear trees, clean yards and support those without power. My family was one of the recipients of this kindness, and I felt more connection and community than I had felt in a long time.

Kindness Can Make all the Difference in Combatting Loneliness - Good Dads Prime

Loneliness and isolation has a sociological impact on each of us. Read on to discover how kindness can combat the loneliness epidemic.

primegooddads.com

All the best!

 

[Geoff-Allen]

The need to belong

To understand the health hazards of loneliness and the healing power of kindness, we need only reflect on the nature of this species we all belong to. We humans are members of a social species which means, in essence, that we’re hopeless in isolation. We need each other.

We need families, neighbourhoods, groups and communities of all kinds to nurture and sustain us and to give us the all-important sense of ‘belonging’ that is so fundamental to our mental and emotional health. Indeed, our very survival as a species depends on our ability to create and maintain social harmony.

Like all herd animals, we suffer when we are cut off from the herd. Yes, we all need solitude; we need time to ourselves for replenishing our resources for the demanding business of being a member of a social species. But too much isolation heightens the risk of loneliness, anxiety and depression – along with other health hazards like hypertension, inflammation, cognitive decline, disturbed sleep and vulnerability to addiction.

Kindness: A Cure for Loneliness? – Ending Loneliness Together

endingloneliness.com.au

Cheers!

 

[Geoff-Allen]

Just as in meditation, the key to mindful listening is to simply notice when your mind begins to wander, and then gently bring your focus back to center—in this case, to the speaker. You train yourself to refrain from interrupting, adding your point of view, or sharing similar experiences. These interjections take away from the speaker’s experience by making it about you. Instead of projecting your experience or feelings onto their message, the idea is to pay full attention and listen with the intention only to hear with an open, receptive, nonjudgmental, and compassionate ear. One way to practice this is to repeat back to the speaker what you think you heard him or her say, to see if you fully understand what the person is trying to communicate. You might be surprised by how often your mental and emotional filters lead to misinterpretation, however subtle.

How to Give Your Full Attention

By practicing self-awareness, you can listen with greater care—not only to words, but also to the emotion and meaning that's being expressed.

www.mindful.org