This first step is to lay a strong foundation on which to build your children's education.
Enjoy the bi-weekly article below:
Enjoy the bi-weekly article below:
Kindness as an Aid to Learning
How can kindness help children learn? What does that have to do with learning? Let me count the ways for you.
Kindness is the practice of being sympathetic, compassionate, considerate, and caring. Kindness is a trait that parents, grandparents, and caregivers can model easily. It can be practiced daily. Being kind to your own children and their friends is a good example. Disciplining patiently and quietly takes great skill this time of year.
Teaching your children to be kind to their friends and school mates requires your conversation with them. Helping them to be considerate of their teachers by focusing and listening, and trying to do their best in spite of the many distractions. Play practices and song rehearsals for the Christmas program require your children to practice kindness and self-control. Waiting quietly for their cues is kindness. Lining up the way the teacher directs is kindness. Not shoving or pushing is kindness.
Helping is kindness. "Helping feels good and is nice for the other person and you" in the words of one 12-year-old. Make helping a family affair. To clean the house, set a timer for working together as a team as each accomplishes their assigned tasks. Make the best of your time together. Be patient so you can turn a teachable moment into an opportunity for your children to grow. If order makes you feel more peaceful and less stressful, have the children put their toys back as soon as they are done playing with them, put their dishes in the sink or dishwasher, and put their own laundry away. Even as Santa watches, you might establish good habits that will go through the new year.
Help your children to be a good neighbor. Show kindness to an elderly neighbor by taking them cookies you help your children make or flowers grown in your yard. Teach them to smile or wave at neighbors as they pass.
Teach children to show kindness by helping in their community. Keep their community clean by not littering. Put candy and gum wrappers in their pockets and carry soft drink cans or water bottles to dispose in a proper container. Help them to recycle cans and bottles.
(More ideas at www.parents.com/parenting/better-parenting/advice/14-little-ways-to-encourage-kindness/?page=5)
Children want to help and know they can make a difference no matter what their age. You can teach kindness one deed at a time. Give your children love and boundaries to show your kindness.
"Kindness is the language the deaf can hear and the blind can see. " Mark Twain
"A little thought and a little kindness are often worth more than a great deal of money." John Ruskin
Kindness goes a long way and enriches those who share.
How can kindness help children learn? What does that have to do with learning? Let me count the ways for you.
Kindness is the practice of being sympathetic, compassionate, considerate, and caring. Kindness is a trait that parents, grandparents, and caregivers can model easily. It can be practiced daily. Being kind to your own children and their friends is a good example. Disciplining patiently and quietly takes great skill this time of year.
Teaching your children to be kind to their friends and school mates requires your conversation with them. Helping them to be considerate of their teachers by focusing and listening, and trying to do their best in spite of the many distractions. Play practices and song rehearsals for the Christmas program require your children to practice kindness and self-control. Waiting quietly for their cues is kindness. Lining up the way the teacher directs is kindness. Not shoving or pushing is kindness.
Helping is kindness. "Helping feels good and is nice for the other person and you" in the words of one 12-year-old. Make helping a family affair. To clean the house, set a timer for working together as a team as each accomplishes their assigned tasks. Make the best of your time together. Be patient so you can turn a teachable moment into an opportunity for your children to grow. If order makes you feel more peaceful and less stressful, have the children put their toys back as soon as they are done playing with them, put their dishes in the sink or dishwasher, and put their own laundry away. Even as Santa watches, you might establish good habits that will go through the new year.
Help your children to be a good neighbor. Show kindness to an elderly neighbor by taking them cookies you help your children make or flowers grown in your yard. Teach them to smile or wave at neighbors as they pass.
Teach children to show kindness by helping in their community. Keep their community clean by not littering. Put candy and gum wrappers in their pockets and carry soft drink cans or water bottles to dispose in a proper container. Help them to recycle cans and bottles.
(More ideas at www.parents.com/parenting/better-parenting/advice/14-little-ways-to-encourage-kindness/?page=5)
Children want to help and know they can make a difference no matter what their age. You can teach kindness one deed at a time. Give your children love and boundaries to show your kindness.
"Kindness is the language the deaf can hear and the blind can see. " Mark Twain
"A little thought and a little kindness are often worth more than a great deal of money." John Ruskin
Kindness goes a long way and enriches those who share.