Teach kindness. Teach your child to be kind to everyone – their friends, the children in their class, school, and children at extra-curricular activities. No one can complain about your child if they are kind, even those who they don’t like. In fact, it may annoy the ones they don’t like and they’ll wonder why they are being so nice. Being kind starts at the beginning of the school day by saying hi to their peers and ending the day by saying goodbye. Is your child already doing this? If not, get them to try it for a week and tell you how it goes.
Kindness is super important but, realistically, we don’t always feel like being kind to everyone all the time. Your child may dislike someone, or there may be an unkind child in their class. If your child does not want to be kind about someone, they need to do their best to keep it to themselves until they walk out of the school gates, finish their school day, and are on their own. They can let off steam with friends outside of school in person, or on the phone to a friend they trust. They can also talk to you as their parent. It is better for them to have a moan with people they can trust rather than being seen as a mean person or a gossip. There is always someone outside of school a child has a history with, that they can offload to. Who is this person for your child? Encourage them to use this person as their confidant instead of being tempted to be unkind.
USING WORDS TO TEACH KINDNESS
Being kind is not only about the words that children use, it’s also about what’s going on with their faces. Some people are more expressive than others and our faces can give our true feelings away. A good friend will smile which, in turn, will make others smile back at them. They will appear more approachable and attract peers to them.
Children should learn that, if they aren’t kind to people, then others may not want to be around them and possibly stay clear. It will be difficult to make good friends if they’re seen as unkind. The same goes for empathy. Friends want to know that others are on their side and feel their pain when something is not going well. That’s why its important to model empathy and teach kindness.
Part of being kind is putting others first. If you would like your child to be more considerate of others perhaps have a look at this article.
If you are interested in teaching your child all the important life skills the have a look at The Parent’s Toolkit.
