As the holiday season approaches, it’s the perfect opportunity to embrace your children and instill in them the priceless lesson of kindness. A recent poll revealed that around 93 percent of Americans engage in kind gestures during the holidays, like complimenting others or greeting strangers, showcasing the universal need for care and positivity within families.
Laurel Sims-Stewart, a counselor who works with both children and adults, emphasizes that sociotherapy advocates the importance of modeling friendly behavior for kids. She states, ‘By practicing kindness toward others and showing it to our children, we are directly investing in their foundational experiences of how people, including ourselves, should treat one another.’
Engaging children in small, meaningful acts of kindness is one of the best ways to teach them about empathy. Simple gestures such as holding the door open for someone or saying ‘Please’ and ‘Thank You’ can resonate deeply, as a survey found that about 68% of people have recently performed such actions. Encouraging them to create colorful drawings for neighbors or help clean a local park can foster a sense of community and joy.
Donation, in any form, is also another kind of meaningful activity to perform as a family. Looking through the piles of clothes and books in the closets and shelves in order to decide what to donate is an excellent way to explain to children what this word means. Such clothes are readily accepted in organizations such as Goodwill and Dress for Success, and donating clothes results in a positive kind of generosity while at the same time being sustainable.
Writing thank-you notes is one of the practices associated with the holiday, and children can be taught how this activity can be entertaining as well as productive. Making ‘thank you for being you’ cards for family and friends, community helpers such as firefighters, or nursing home residents can benefit the children in developing creative and writing skills.
It also points out that delivery drivers are also working during the holiday season. When package deliveries are on the rise, it is easy to make their day by giving them small tokens like homemade treats or even snacks at their doorstep. This performance shows the child the value of remembering and cherishing people who selflessly stay behind the scenes.
Other-directed listening, while appearing to be merely routine, is a benevolent activity. Since about 62 percent of kids feel that they cannot get their parents’ attention to listen to them, it is a great gift that you decide to concentrate on what the child or anyone has to say.
Volunteering as a family presents another wonderful opportunity to make a significant impact. Whether it’s helping out at local animal shelters, nursing homes, or community parks, dedicating time and effort together cultivates a spirit of unity and compassion. Discussing with your child about where they’d like to volunteer can make the experience even more meaningful.
In the era of social distancing, keeping in touch with grandparents through video calls is a warm sign of concern and care. In particular, grandparents value such communication: 82% of them reported that they liked video calls with young family members.
Donating toys to children in hospitals brings immense joy and serves as a heartwarming way to spread kindness. For older children, explaining the impact of their donations can deepen their understanding and empathy, enhancing their compassion for others.
The last one but not least, is a small kind deed that makes people smile. All of this involves placing some extra cents at toy vending machines with some cheerful message written inside. One has only to write this simple phrase on a card with some money, and this can bring joy and/or a surprise to the beneficiary. We really have to carry this concept back home and encourage more people to do it.
Involving children in acts of kindness not only benefits the recipients but also instills a lasting sense of empathy and generosity within the young givers. This article not only highlights great examples of kind acts to share with your kids but also focuses on how parents can normalize these behaviors throughout the holiday season and beyond.
Developing a kindness calendar is one of the best solutions for helping people remain kind to one another each day. This playful approach entails that, as a family, you sit down and come up with a calendar for the week before the holidays, with every activity being some sort of act of kindness. It could be as basic as waving to three strangers in a day or baking cookies and taking them to the neighbors.
Another useful strategy is to encourage children in the planning and implementation of such acts. Letting them decide what type of positive energy they want to share is a good way to make it feel almost like a special project. For example, if a child loves animals, he/she can indulge in making bird feeders or helping at the animal shelter agency, which can also be fulfilling.
Modeling is one of the essentials in teaching the value of being kind. Kids are able to pick a lot of things from the behavior they notice from grown-up people. Parents can spot kindness in GET; they can teach them to offer help in case of seeing a neighbor. More specifically, parents can show kindness by observing the manners of treating other people – offering assistance in the carriage of groceries, politeness towards the providers of services, etc. Hence, the adage “the show don’t tell” applies here because, to a child, what is done matters more than what is said.
Continuing to teach children about kindness through storybooks and movies is crucial for their development. Many kids resonate with stories featuring characters who overcome challenges through kindness or selflessness, offering tangible examples for them to emulate when faced with their own difficulties.
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A creative way to encourage kindness is by creating a family kindness jar. This involves writing down good deeds on slips of paper, placing them in a jar, and drawing one each week to complete. The surprise element makes it exciting for children, as they eagerly anticipate the next act of kindness they will perform.
Teaching children to be kind during the holiday season is not just rewarding but also essential. Through these thoughtful actions, parents enrich the holiday experience while nurturing their children’s prosocial skills and shaping them into compassionate individuals.
Related posts:
Sweet & Simple Acts of Kindness to Do With Your Kids During the Holiday Season
9 Sweet & Simple Acts of Kindness to Do With Your Kids During the Holiday Season
25 Random Acts of Kindness for Your Kids to Try at Home
