Kindness is the root of happy and harmonious humanity. If everyone learns to be kind to others, the unwanted conflicts can be avoided. As we all know, any tree or plant is strong only if the roots are strong. So, to build a strong root of kindness, starting from the beginning is important.
Let’s teach children about kindness at a growing age so that it develops as the root of their personality. With kindness as their roots, children will be able to foster feelings of empathy, compassion and generosity. They will become kind people.
But the biggest question is how to teach kindness to children. It is not a lesson in the book or a tangible object that children can see and learn. It is an emotion which needs to be addressed with care and So here are a few ways to teach kindness to children.
- Start with empathy
Research suggests that children already have emotions of empathy. Have you noticed your toddler crying after seeing another child crying? That’s empathy. Grab that opportunity to teach them about empathy. Tell them that they are sad because they care for others.
- Then, compassion
Once your toddler realises empathy, compassion is acting on it. Whenever your toddler feels empathetic, encourage them to act on it. Ask them to help their friend who is in pain or trouble.
- Encourage their imagination
Children understand the language of imagination. Encourage them to imagine situations and what they should do. For example, tell them that their doll is hurt and ask them what they should do. Then help them channel their emotions by telling them what is the right thing to do.
- Read a book to them
Another effective way to teach kindness to children is by reading a story to them that is specifically about kindness. Now when you read the story, children will relate with the characters and their emotions. As the story develops and ends with a kind act, children will automatically learn the right response to different situations.
- Don’t wait
You might be thinking when is the right time or age to teach kindness to children? It is today. This means there is never a wrong time to teach your toddler about kindness. Start as soon as you see emotional reactions in your toddler or when they begin asking questions about things they see.
So, teaching kindness has no right time, place or age. Children are like clay that needs moulding from the beginning itself.
Little Pearls is always there to teach children about kindness. It conducts storytelling sessions in which teachers narrate stories and ask students to choose their favourite characters. The choice, which is sometimes corrected to giving comprehensible reasons, imparts values of empathy, compassion and kindness. We also conduct puppet shows that ends with kindness as moral of the act. The multi-coloured characters not only grab attention of children but also make them focus on what each puppet is doing or saying.
Little Pearls also make up situations in which children are encouraged to do acts of kindness like sharing things and helping others. Children are encouraged to take part in community programs where they do tasks in a team. This fosters compassion, team spirit and idea of how helping each other can lead to good results.
Apart from these, Little Pearls regularly teaches children small acts of kindness like saying “Thank you”, “Please”, keeping the door open, greeting others and more. Little Pearls believes in preserving the pearls with care until they are ready to shine on the world.
