Teaching Kids to be Kind to Strangers
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Create Your Own Kindness is a brand new activity book for 6-12 year olds from child therapist and wellbeing author Becky Goddard-Hill.
In her book she shares over 50 ways kids can learn to be kind to themselves, other people and to the wider world. Each activity is backed by science and research so children understand why it matters and how it works.
Here Becky shares an extract from her book about kindness to strangers:
Kindness to strangers
“Remember there’s no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end.” – Scott Adams (comic strip creator)
Sometimes you will make a stranger so much happier just by a tiny act and it may be the one thing that truly brightens their day.
When we were first in lockdown during the Coronavirus and couldn’t go out and about, lots of people did small, kind things for strangers. Here are some of the little kindness gifts to strangers I saw during the time that made my heart sing.
- In the local park somebody had put fairy doors on the trees and created a magical forest
- My daughter chalked a circle outside our house saying “Jump in and make a wish”, and so many kids (and grown-ups too) were spotted doing this and beaming) .
- Notes came through our door saying if you need help with shopping just call with the names of people we did not know.
- Ruby made up writing sets of lovely paper, envelopes, pens and stamps and gave sets to a local care home.
- Jamie and his mum made a free book box for their local community. They made a sign saying please help yourself to books and please drop off any you have spare.
It was so lovely to see how kind everyone was being to each other in tricky times. It made everyone feel better.
The science bit
According to research from Emory University, when you are kind to someone else your brain’s pleasure and reward centres lights up just as it would if someone was kind to you. This is called the “helper’s high.” and it is a lovely feeling like a little buzz of happiness.
It’s so good you will want to be kind again and again, so you keep on feeling it.
Actvity
Help your child think about ways in which they can show kindness to strangers – it could be as simple as smiling at a passer-by, holding a door open (when lockdown is over!) raking leaves or putting a lovely picture in the window of your home to make them smile or chalk a message on the pavement outside your house.
Could they make a list and tick each one off as they achieve it?
Create Your Own Kindness is available now from Amazon and all good bookshops
I’d love to win this book so that I could give it to my granddaughters!
I would love to win this for my son and daughter looks like a lovely book and now more than ever it’s important to be kind ?
I would love to win for my niece!
This would be a lovely book for my grandson.
Being kind is the main quality I teach my kids so this book would be perfect
To teach my nephews and nieces about being generous and not being selfish.
It would be good for my grandchildren.
As there is more Kindness needed in our world. It needs to be actively encouraged nowadays. So this book would be used with the children to provide awareness, encouragement, etc.
Would love to win because this is so important and am always trying to teach my son this.
My niece would love this book
I would love to win this for my son as he is autistic and hasn’t always been on the receiving end of kindness in the outside world so this would be a good book to reinforce my message to him that the world is always a nicer place if you are kind to others.
would love to win for my granddaughter
I would love to win this book for my nephew, he is such a kind boy but is struggling with confidence at the moment, He loves his books, so I think this would help encourage him to spread the joy and gain some confidence at the same time.
it soundns so lovely fab gift my neice!
I’d love to win for my 2 boys
Id love to win this for my Grandson
We’re a book-loving family, and it’s great to pass that love on through the generations xx
It would be lovely to read this book with my daughter and help her learn more about how to be kind.
The little one would love it.
This sounds like a fantastic book! Being kind is so important whether that is to yourself or to others.
I would love to win this book because I could give it to my granddaughter who would love it I know!
My daughter would love this
I would like to win this for my nephew who would enjoy it.
I would love to win for my daughter, it looks a lovely book.
i try daily to teach my kids kindness an respect so this sounds wonderful
This would be nice to win for my son. Thanks for the giveaway,