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10 Tips For Teaching Kindness To Children

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Teaching our children about kindness to ourselves and our community of friends and family is so important. Thank you to KIND for sponsoring this discussion. 

family walk

This morning as I was helping the Little One get ready for school and we had one of our usual conversations.

“What did you dream about last night”? I asked her. “What are you most excited about doing today”? I whispered into her ear.

Oh the things she says! Like, “I dreamed about giving all the lost puppies food and families”. They make me smile and they inspire me to be a better mom.

At school drop off I asked her to remember what I always say to her (I love you) but instead she said… “be kind”! This is something we totally talk about, and I was excited she thought of that too!

We talk about kindness with the girls all the time.

Be kind to your friends and help them whenever they need it. Be kind to strangers… hold the door for them. But so often I forget to remind them to be kind to themselves and their own bodies, which is just as important.

kind healthy grains

So after school we did things a bit differently than we normally do.

Instead of enjoying our after school snack in the house, we went on a kindness hike into our avocado grove and we talked about ways we can be kind to ourselves and others while we ate. They (Pete too!) each picked their favorite KIND bars so that they could be kind to their taste buds too!

KIND makes delicious, wholesome snacks from nutritionally-rich ingredients you can see & pronounce®.

picking flowers

We wrote these 10 kindness tips together as a family:

  1. Remember kindness in everything you do. Ask yourself often if you are being as kind as possible.
  2. Greet each person with kindness. Let them know you care.
  3. Show your body kindness by eating healthy foods that tastes good, like KIND bars!
  4. Show your skin kindness by wearing sunblock. (This was the little ones idea, love it!)
  5. Always hold doors for others and smile. This is the easiest way to show a stranger kindness.
  6. Recycle! Be kind to the planet!
  7. Exercise! Be kind to your body so that it can be kind back to you.
  8. Do random acts of kindness and surprises for others. 
  9. Be kind online and offline. Treat others with kindness in person or on the computer.
  10. Give to others. As soon as my middle daughter said this one my little one squealed and asked if we could pick some avocados (after we had a snack) and share them.

KIND bars

There are so many KIND snacks but these are our current favorites!

Pete really likes the STRONG & KIND bars. Which pretty much is who he is if I had to describe him in two works… they are KIND’s first-ever savory snack line featuring 10 grams of soy-and-whey free protein made from ingredients you can see & pronounce®. They are available in five flavors… Hickory Smoked is the one he snacked on.  Because not all protein is created equal, they use whole almonds, seeds and pea protein to give you 10g of natural protein and all nine essential amino acids in these bars.

The girls and I LOVED the KIND Healthy Grains Bars. They have a foundation of five super grains baked into a perfectly chewy, with a crunch, texture. Although they are available in five flavors, we enjoyed the Maple Pumpkin Seeds with Sea Salt and the Dark Chocolate Chunk the most! They have 100% Whole Grains: Gluten free oats, millet, quinoa, amaranth and buckwheat and each bar provides at least 18g of whole grains PLUS it is a good source of fiber and they taste amazing! 

exploring the world with kindnessteaching kids about kindnesspicking avocados

After our snack we went avocado picking! 

 

picking avocados to share

KIND bars inspired the girls with their mission of “making the world a little kinder – one kind act and one snack at a time”. 

The girls even decided on a kindness challenge of their own… they are going to try to show kindness at least 5 times a day and keep a kindness journal. I think this is a great idea on so many levels. This will encourage them to keep spreading kindness and a good mood booster when they are having a less than perfect day. Nothing makes us happier than to revisit times when we made a difference in someone else’s life and showed them kindness!

What other ways can share KINDness?

Heather Reese
the authorHeather Reese
Heather Delaney Reese is the storyteller and photographer behind the lifestyle and family travel blog, It's a Lovely Life®! For the past decade, she has vacationed over 150 days a year with her family. She is a vegan, and loves being by the water, spending time with her children, husband, 2 Shih Tzus and Cat.

84 Comments

  • Cite post and a great idea to do this with your kids. I think making an actual list helps it “sink” in much better. …And I want an avocado grove!

  • It’s important for us parents to instill kindness in our kids and be the example. They’ll grow up to be caring adults. Thanks for sharing these tips. Happy Friday! 🙂

  • Love this post! Teaching kindness is SO important and it makes my heart happy to see you instill that in your little ones!

  • I noticed that I became more calm when I started eating all veggie or fruits. I feel full but not heavy! Amazing! I do agree it helps us to become more kind to other people. ^_^

  • We try to teach our kids to be kind to everyone. They have the hardest time with each other especially when it comes to sharing but they are very loving children. Great tips.

  • Hi Heather, So enjoyed your post and the 10 kindness tips together as a family that you have – I know that when someone is kind to me, it feels wonderful and I automatically pay it forward – and this is the first I’ve of the KIND Healthy Grains Bars – which now I definitively have to buy – you have a lovely family and thank you for sharing 🙂

    • Someone bought my coffee at Starbucks one day, and it made my week. It’s so great to be able to pay it forward.

  • Such lovely pictures and I love the idea of a kindness hike. Your tips for teaching kindness to children are fantastic.

  • I am a big fan of Kind bars. They are sooooo good. I love the comment about giving puppies food and homes. I am big on animal rescue and I would love it if more pets had food and shelter as well.

  • This is wonderful idea to share with the kids. I am going to show my older two this post and maybe we can come up with a kindness board at home and share ways we were kind to others each day. Those pictures by the way GORGEOUS!!! I want an avocado tree!

  • I just love your kids approach on kindness and loving the idea of them doing such a challenge, well done you not making parents remember to instill such in their kids and kudos to those who try.

  • I love the idea behind this kindness challenge and teaching kids about the different ways to be kind to themselves. Being healthy and exercising is definitely one of those things you want children getting into at an early age.

  • I love the idea of a kindness hike! It’s nice weather here now, I might do something similar.

  • This is an awesome post indeed and great tips to teaching kids kindness. I have never heard of Kind bars but I will have to get some for my niece’s kids to give out. Thanks for sharing.

  • Awesome! We need more households teaching kindness to their family members. Being on the Internet has exposed us all to meanness, I pray we can all rise above pettiness. That said, I’d love to go avocado picking. Yum! 🙂

  • Kindness definitely starts at home with good role models. I love doing random acts of kindness, nothing too planned in advance but a spontaneous thing my boys can witness.

  • Sounds like you’re raising a very sweet and intelligent young girl. Kudos to you Mama!

  • I love the idea of a kindness hike! Totally going to do this with my students…….and my daughter once she’s old enough!

  • I love this. Instilling those values in kids is so important. I like the list you came up with as a family. I think I’ll try that one with my family.

    I do love kind bars. They are such a yummy healthy treat.

  • It is very important to teach your child at a young age about kindness and treating others how they want to be treated. I am blessed and have four children that have always seem to show kindness towards family, friends, classmates, etc.

  • This is so wonderful, I have a hard time teaching my 8 year old high functioning autistic son kindness and compassion, for him I have to go the route of just “this is how it is” sort of idea because the emotional part is not always connected with random people. Family, he has gotten a lot better about being kind and he doesn’t like his siblings being sad nor me. I love teaching kids kindness, they are our future, glad you are sharing this info for all to get ideas from!

  • I’ve seen, but have not had Kindness bars. I teach my children kindness and compassion constantly so that they are aware of their actions.

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