Ep. 165: Cultivating Kindness

SHOW NOTES

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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