6 Important Ways to Teach Our Kids To Be Kind and Compassionate

In todays world, there is unfortunately a lot of bad news on the TV and Internet and the negative behavior of others can really impact young children. Violence, shootings, burglaries, bullying – it’s everywhere and we can’t stop the actions of other people but we can definitely help prevent a lot of it and try our best to raise our children to be respectful, kind, compassionate human beings. Why do people purposefully hurt others? This is a question that has probably been brewing in many people’s minds recently. This is a question that no one has the answer to. Below are six different ways to help kids learn to live a life with love and peace towards all humanity.

1. Model Behavior – As a parent or teacher, make sure that you are acting the way that you want your children or students to. Kids learn so much from adults and will model their behavior, whether good or bad. Show your kids what kindness means by giving people compliments, going out of your way to help others, and being patient. If they see you yelling at someone, being rude to others or hurting someone, then they will learn to think that it’s okay to act that way towards other people.

2. Be Giving – Teach your children to give to others. Make a regular habit or family tradition to give away clothes and food to local shelters, donate to a charity of their choice, or get involved with community events such as 5k races to help raise money. In addition, talk to your kids openly about what a positive impact they’re making in someone else’s life. Teach them to do unexpected things for those around them such as helping a friend, mowing the neighbors lawn or shoveling snow. If children are taught these important values at a young age, then they will grow up wanting to give to others around them.

3. Communicate Openly – As a family, it’s very important to communicate openly with your children and help them express their emotions in a positive manner. If you notice that your child or student is not acting in their usual manner, sit them down and talk to them to see if you can figure out why they’re sad, angry or mad. Many families have extremely busy schedules and it’s easy to get caught up in the day and overlook your children’s feelings. If they’re able to openly express their anger and anxiety in a positive way with their parents or other adults, then they can learn to deal with their emotions and not act out in a mean or harmful way.

4. Make Them Responsible for Their Actions – The one thing parents dread the most is hearing about how their child did something wrong to hurt someone else. What would you do if your son or daughter called another child a name, or pushed them, or bullied them? Children need to know that their inappropriate actions are not okay. If something like this happens, then it’s important for parents to take action right away by talking to their child and hopefully making them go back to the child they hurt and apologize. Another idea would be to have your child write a letter expressing why what they did was wrong and how they would feel if someone did that to them. There’s a lot of different ways that both parents and teachers can handle a situation like this. We need to make sure that children of all ages take responsibility for their actions.

5. Adopt a Pet – Any type of pet that a family adopts needs to be taken care of. Whether it’s a dog, cat, bird, rabbit, lizard, all creatures need food, water, safe shelter, and a loving home. Teaching a child to help take responsibility and help care for a pet can show them how important it is to be kind and patient. Training an animal such as a dog or cat can take a lot of patience and persistence. Many kids form strong bonds with their pets and learn to love them like family members. Adopting a pet can teach kids at a young age how important it is to care for another living thing and be nice, compassionate and caring.

6. Teach Them How to Stand Up For What’s Right – Imagine this: your child is at school and he/she sees a group of kids picking on a particular student. Maybe your child doesn’t want to get involved so he/she just walks away and ignores the situation. Well, luckily nothing happened to your child but what about the poor kid that was getting picked on? Children need to know that it’s imperative to turn to a trusted adult if there’s something happening that shouldn’t be, such as someone getting hurt or bullied. We all need to look out and care for each other and that’s what being compassionate and kindness are about. It’s the right thing to do. What if it was you or your child that was the one getting hurt or getting bullied? Wouldn’t you want somebody to help? Of course! Teaching children to stand up for what’s right can definitely help eliminate some the harmful behaviors that are seen in today’s world.

Kindness and compassion can go a long way and are as simple as a smile, hug or a helping hand. Make it a goal for both yourself and your children to practice at least 3 acts of kindness each day. Think of how good it feels when someone around you gives you a compliment or goes out of their way for you. Become a positive person so that you can have a great impact on those around you.

“Compassion and tolerance are not a sign of weakness, but a sign of strength.” – Dalai Lama

Written by Sarah Kochan