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Kindness Habit 6:

Practice Kindness

Actions speak louder
than words

Check it out
Practice Kindness image

What is it?

It’s time to throw kindness like (k)onfetti! Spelling aside, it’s often easy to think kind thoughts about others while letting them go unsaid. Yet one act of kindness can often create a domino effect throughout a community. Ready to get this kindness block party started? We sure are!

Why is it important?

Recognizing kind acts can be hard for young kids who may not know what to look for. So start things off by pointing out the kind acts you see and encourage your kids to follow along. Practicing kindness has been found to increase kids’ happiness, self-esteem, health, and resilience! WOW. There’s no party like a kind party!

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Help kids get the habit

Expect kindness:

Make it clear that in your home kindness is expected and keep everyone in the family accountable.

Define Kindness:

Use the TIP to help your children identify what kindness looks like. (T)ell who received the kindness; (I)dentify the kind act; (P)oint out how the act affected the recipient.

Generate Possibilities:

Kindness must be practiced. To make it easy, create a list of random acts of kindness that everyone in your family can do on a daily basis.

Weekly Rituals:

Make asking “what kind thing did you do today?” a weekly (or daily!) habit. Or bring a thank you card to a different local hero every week!

Activities

Practice Kindness at home :) These are ideas to inspire new traditions. Did you know when kids are asked to teach it makes ideas more memorable?

Random Acts of Kindness icon

Random Acts of Kindness

(or not-so-random)

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Kindness Capsule

Collect kind moments

Kindness Creation Challenge: Do you have an new idea for how to Practice Kindness? Adults, submit your family’s ideas here for a chance to share it with the world!

Following our #SummerKindnessSeries? Tell us what you think here

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Unselfie book cover

*Research and material is sourced and adapted from Unselfie: Why Empathetic Kids Succeed In Our All-About-Me World.

Learn more about Dr. Michele Borba