UnSelfie by Michele Borba
Author:Michele Borba
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Touchstone
AGE-BY-AGE STRATEGIES
During one holiday, Jessica and Mark noticed that their three sons had fallen into the “Gimme” trap. “We wanted them to learn that giving is just as fun as receiving,” they said. So the parents initiated a new tradition: Secret Kindness Buddies. Each person—including Mom and Dad—pulled a name from a basket and then was to perform a secret act of kindness toward the buddy each day during Hanukkah. Deeds may not be purchased but must come “straight from the heart.”
Any hesitations faded by their first secret act. The kids baked cookies, picked a flower bouquet, restrung a sibling’s broken necklace, cleaned a brother’s room, and even delivered breakfast in bed to Mom. “They couldn’t wait to try to surprise their sibling and watch his reaction,” Jessica said. “The best thing was that my boys relearned the joy of giving.”
Jessica and Mark aren’t alone: many parents want their kids to focus more on kindness, caring, and giving. Here are more ways to start a Kindness Revolution in your home, school, or neighborhood. Make sure to keep the activities fun, varied, and ongoing, and take time to chat about how both recipients and givers were affected. Doing so will build your kids’ kindness muscles, help them think more about others and less about themselves, and help them acquire the Empathy Advantage.
Symbols designate the recommended age and suitability for activity: L = Little Ones: Toddlers and Preschoolers; S = School-age; T = Tweens and Older; A = All Ages
• Start a family Kindness Box. An old shoebox with a slit cut in the top will do for this simple activity. Just encourage your family to look for others doing kind deeds. Write or draw the deeds and slip them in the box. Then read those notes during your family meal, a Sunday breakfast, or family gathering. It will help everyone start looking for the “good” in one another. L, S
• Create a Kindness Jar. Usha Balamore, the lower division director at Pennsylvania’s Shipley School, has a Kindness Jar (a large plastic see-through container) to help four- and five-year-old students practice kindness. A penny is added to the jar for each kind act, but the honoree is the kindness recipient, not the giver. The receiver reports the giver’s name and deed: “Larry was kind because he folded up my blanket.” Or “Kelly was kind because she hugged me when I fell.” The adult then adds a penny to the jar. Focusing on the recipient halts givers from bragging or expecting rewards. When filled, the kids decide where to donate the money. Last year, students chose an orphanage in Uganda to be the recipient. “We’re making the world a better place,” a kindergartener said proudly.19 Start a kindness jar at home! L, S
• Catch your kids being kind with pebbles. Keep a stack of small, smooth stones or other small objects by a basket or container. Family members are to “catch” Mom, Dad, or siblings being kind, compliment the recipient, write their kind person’s initial on the pebble with a black marking pen, and add it to the Kindness Basket.
Download
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.
The Art of Thinking Clearly by Rolf Dobelli(9908)
The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love That Lasts by Gary Chapman(9272)
Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit by John E. Douglas & Mark Olshaker(8697)
Becoming Supernatural by Dr. Joe Dispenza(7831)
The Road Less Traveled by M. Scott Peck(7274)
Nudge - Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness by Thaler Sunstein(7238)
Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes by Maria Konnikova(6936)
Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress by Steven Pinker(6869)
Win Bigly by Scott Adams(6823)
The Way of Zen by Alan W. Watts(6288)
Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are Better Than You Think by Hans Rosling(4485)
The State of Affairs by Esther Perel(4483)
Gerald's Game by Stephen King(4369)
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl(4266)
The Confidence Code by Katty Kay(4033)
Thinking in Bets by Annie Duke(3995)
The Worm at the Core by Sheldon Solomon(3324)
Hidden Persuasion: 33 psychological influence techniques in advertising by Marc Andrews & Matthijs van Leeuwen & Rick van Baaren(3290)
Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker(3271)
