Encouraging Kindness in Children

All children have the ability to be kind and caring to others, yet sometimes those characteristics are hidden behind a child's stronger urges. Showing kindness, explaining how their actions affect others, and giving them opportunities to demonstrate kindness helps children fully develop their own caring instincts. Here are five simple ways you can encourage your child's kind and caring side.

The best things parents can do to encourage kindness is to teach by example. Children learn more from watching how their parents act than they do by being told. Show your child kindness, empathy, and caring by treating him the way you want your child to act. All people behave as well as they are treated, and that applies to children as well. When you find yourself in moments of your child acting outconsider for a moment how you would want your child to treat others in the same circumstance. Use that time to model kindness and empathy for your child.

Children opportunities to demonstrate kindness, sharing, and cooperation. The more chances you give your child to act in kindness the better they will become at it. Pets are great ways to give your child a daily opportunity to treat another with kindness and empathy. Looking after a pet helps your child understand how their actions and behaviors can affect others. Caring for a small pet can often bring out the nurturing instinct of children and help them todevelop empathy and caring.

Young children cannot always understand the consequences of their actions. Parents need to take the time to calmly explain how their behaviors and actions affect others. Often for young children it is not a matter of choosing not to be kind, it is an inability to grasp how being unkind hurts others. When you see your child acting selfish or mean to another person gently explain how their behavior is making others feel. Be careful not to make your child feel embarrassed or shamed, as this can sometimes lead to acting out as a way for your child to regain control of the situation. Instead take your child aside and gently the consequences of actions. When your child grasps this they will begin to feel more empathy for others.

Acknowledge acts of kindness as well as moments of unkindness. If a parents focuses more on the moments where a child is unkind toward others the child will also begin to focus more on those moments. Instead parents should be sure to praise a child when they see the child acting kindly to others. When you see your child acting in a positive way towards others take a moment to thank them for their action. This will encourage them to act kindly more often and support this behavior withpositive attention. Children will often act in a way that gains them more attention, both positive and negative. Give your child a chance to enjoy positiveattention for kindness and they will want to continue to act kindly.

Provide a kind environment for your child. When a child is surrounded by books, games, and television shows that encourage aggression and negative actions they are likely to mimic this things rather than kindness. Provide an environment that encourages kindness, caring, and empathy through items your child plays with frequently. Board games that require multiple players are a great tool for kids to use cooperation and sharing. Find books that involve kindness and caring, and choose television shows that focus more on kindness than violence. Young children are very impressionable by even fictional models, choosing models that will teach your child the behaviors you want them to learn will help ensure they are influenced bypositive things.

It can often be difficult to see children as naturally kind and caring. Sharing, cooperation, and empathy are behaviors often lacking in children's interactions. Yet all children have the ability to be kind towards others. Parents can help encourage kindness in their children and help these positive behaviors bloom by using these five simple steps.