Ep. 165: Cultivating Kindness

SHOW NOTES Join my PATREON squad for special perks, including bonus podcast episodes, exclusive posts, and resources.  Subscribe for resources and ideas for happier, more connected families. Kindness is a character trait we value highly in our friends, family members, and co-workers, and yet our kids may not know how much we want them to be kind, considerate, contributing members of their community. For World Kindness Day (November 13 - the day this episode is being released), I'm doing a deep dive into simple ideas for raising kinder kids and creating a kinder world. Let's focus on kindness, not just today but every day. BIG IDEAS 80% of the youth surveyed agreed with the statement, “My parents are prouder if I get good grades in my classes then if I'm a caring community member in class and school." We need to focus on raising kinder humans. Giving a compliment is a really simple way to spread kindness and also to show our kids a really, really important social skill. "Being considerate of others will take your children further in life than any college degree." It is really important that we have a growth mindset about the character trait of kindness and realize that it is a trait that we can cultivate in ourselves and in our children. Something that we can control is ourselves and how we interact with and show kindness to other people. LINKS & RESOURCES Random Acts of Kindness - World Kindness Day QUOTES "Take a few minutes to write uplifting, positive encouraging messages in a sticky note pad, then start leaving those messages around, whether it's in your own house, at a neighbor's house, on people's mailboxes, on windshields. You can leave these uplifting positive messages around as a simple and fun act of kindness." "Camp Secret #8 in my book, Happy Campers is, Make it Cool to be Kind. In the chapter, I talk about the importance of us focusing, in our families, in our schools, in our camps, everywhere, on creating a culture where kindness is embraced and encouraged." "Set an alarm to go off three times, when the alarm sounds stop what you're doing and call, text, or email someone simply to tell them how awesome they are." "Compliment the first three people you talk to." "Another act of Kindness that is something that kids can do is to write a handwritten note to their teacher." "Just saying good morning to the people in your family or the people at work when you're in a meeting is so important." "A really good way to do a family activity of kindness is to pick up some trash. Even if you just spend 10 minutes picking up some trash around your neighborhood." "Leave encouraging notes around." "Spend 24 hours or dedicate 24 hours to spreading positivity on social media." "Giving an extra generous tip to a service worker is another way to do an act of kindness." "Send flowers to a friend and I would just expand this that you can also just send a note to a friend." "Really anything that you send or give that just shows someone that you're thinking about them is such an act of kindness and really can brighten their day and yours." "Get your kids to focus a little bit more on kindnesses that they have seen others do by asking them to point out kind acts that they have witnessed or done themselves." "It's also a great idea to talk with your kids about how they feel after someone has done something kind for them or after they've done something kind for another person." "How do you want to be remembered by your classmates and friends?" ONE SIMPLE THING From pages 189-190 in Happy Campers (Camp Secret #8: Make it Cool to be Kind): RELATED POSTS & EPISODES Ep. 46: #CampKindnessDay with Tom Rosenberg Ep. 138: Unselfie with Dr. Michele Borba Ep. 114: Precursors to Gratitude How to Respond to Bad Behavior 30 Days of Kindness Is Kindness the Secret to a Successful Life? Ep. 46: #CampKindnessDay with Tom Rosenberg Why my Family is Celebrating World Kindness Day Focusing on Kindness