10 Ways to Bring Kindness into Your Home

Easy prompts for parents and teachers to promote kindness. (It's a skill you can teach!) Learn better. Play smarter. | [View this email in your browser]( Parenting made simpler. Written by experts. Designed for intentional parents. Be a Plinkit Pro Thank you for reading! This newsletter is made possible through Plinkit Pro membership support. Please consider being a [PLINKIT PRO]( if you aren't already, to enjoy access to all our expert guidance and events. No ads. No sponsored content. Just original, time-saving, practical insights written in partnership with the best child development experts. Or, [email us](mailto:hello@myplinkit.com) to find out how your entire school or workplace can benefit from [PLINKIT PRO.]( [BE A PLINKIT PRO]( 10 Ways to Bring Kindness into Your Home "Our brains can learn the patterns of kindness, and then they become a part of who we are." -[Jan Bird]( Teacher and Parent]( In one of our recent masterclasses, we heard how parents were surprised to learn that being kind often needs to be explicitly taught. Kindness is a part of all of us, and for some children it comes naturally, but for many, it’s a learned skill. Yet, when we’re supporting a child through tricky social behavior, whether it be playground antics, friendship issues, group dynamics, disruptive class learning or sibling needling, it often starts with kindness. Kindness is a choice, and sometimes, we need to call that out for a child so that the feeling of being kind becomes habit. In any given day, our actions are made up of a series of small choices. We get to actively choose kindness in each of these choices; we get to choose how we participate in our community and how we impact those around us. The same applies for children. The good news is that with just a handful of easy prompts, parents and teachers can promote kindness. We sat down with the esteemed Jan Bird, grade one teacher extraordinaire, who shared with us how she goes about teaching kindness from the perspective of how children learn. She inspired us to think deeply and creatively not only about how we raise children to be caretakers of themselves, but also of their learning communities and of our Earth. Here’s ten ways to bring kindness into your home, inspired by Jan’s decades of teaching wisdom and expertise. 10 Ways to Bring Kindness into Your Home - Talk about what kindness looks like, feels like and sounds like. Be explicit. Name it. Then, set your limits and expectations for kindness. - For example, if there is bickering at the dining table, call out your limits and expectations for what kindness looks like, feels like and sounds like. "Whoa, re-do! I just heard something that was unkind. Look at ___’s face; they look really sad." Or, "That was a hurtful thing you just said. You can take a break and come back to the table when you’re ready to use kind words." - Model, model, model. - Share with your child how you're kind on any given day; describe what it feels like and what you see in the people that are impacted (their facial expressions, their body language, their words, etc.). - Name kind acts in front of your child when you see them happening. - Teach your child how they can be kind to themself. (When we’re first kind with ourselves, we’re more apt to be kind to others.) - For example, as Jan shared: "One of my students said, 'I can remind myself that I am generous with my heart.' The next step is to encourage that child to name what it looks like when she shows that generosity." - To teach that same lesson of self-love, invite your child to make a list of kind words that they can say to themself. Put the list in a high-traffic area (a simple Post-It note on their desk works great, too) that can mindfully serve as a daily dose of encouragement. When your child shows that kind act, empower them to proudly name it. [KEEP READING FOR 7 MORE WAYS]( LEARN + DO [10 Ways to Teach Your Child Kindness]( Simple prompts to help promote kindness. Teach your child patterns of kind behavior and how to actively choose kindness. 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