It’s a great time of year to remind ourselves how we can reinforce and encourage kindness and gratitude in our kids. Especially in December, there are so many great opportunities to do this.
Brad Aronson and his wife have often thought about how to make sure their son will turn out to be a grateful, kind and compassionate young man, but parenting is difficult.
“We have no idea what we’re doing, but we wanted to share some ideas and related thoughts.”
- Help develop your child’s identity as a caring person. Rather than telling your child “That was a kind thing to do,” say, “You’re such a kind person.”
- At dinner we discuss acts of kindness that each of us saw during the day. As we’ve been doing this, I’ve noticed that our son has begun doing many of the things we mention in conversation.
- Give stuff away. At Halloween our son loved giving out candy. Jack even chased down adults clearly returning from work to give them candy. Even the people who seemed to be in a bad mood smiled. And, Jack learned the joy of giving. Set up a free lemonade stand or find something else to give out. Practice giving.
(READ the full article at Bran Aronson’s blog)
My fiancé and I have been working with our daughter on this very subject. She is three and such a sweet little girl. Her daycare asked if we wanted to do the Operation Christmas boxes, so I said sure. We are a little family struggling just like everyone else, but we wanted to give someone a surprise for Christmas. My fiancé insisted that we do two boxes, one for a girl and one for a boy. We let our daughter pick out what should go in each box. When we were done, she looked up and told us these presents weren’t for her but someone in need. She also insists on putting coins in the Salvation Army kettle every time we pass. I am so proud of her!
Oh how cute!