December: KINDNESS

Definition of Kindness: The quality of being friendly, generous, considerate

When we are kind to others, we show them they are important.  We do not need to agree with each other to be kind to each other.

The Golden Rule: Treat others the way you want to be treated. 

Being kind is very easy when we just follow the golden rule and we treat everyone the way we want to be treated.  We would not hit ourselves, trip ourselves, or call ourselves bad names.  Some of the easiest ways people show kindness is by listening when others are speaking, smiling at the people they pass by, saying good morning or good afternoon as people are walking by, holding the door open for others, and thanking people when they do something kind.

December is the best month to see kindness in action.  Many people will give cash, toys, clothes and other gifts to help families have Christmas.  People will spend more time thinking and doing things for others.  We see people collecting money outside of grocery stores and Walmart during the month of December.  This is all people showing kindness to one another.  The people who give do not expect anything in return, they just want to do something kind for another person or family.

“Not everybody can be famous. But everybody can be great, because greatness is determined by service” Martin Luther King, Jr. 

When we think of service, we think of helping others.  We can show kindness by helping to serve others: holding the doors open, helping in our classrooms, helping at home, and many more activities we can do every day at home and school.

When we are being of service, there are times we show kindness to more people than we realize. 

Helping set the table – we may have tried to help mom or dad, but we showed kindness to everyone who is going to be eating the meal with us.

Helping clean the classroom – we may have tried to help the teacher, but we showed kindness to all of the students in the classroom by having the classroom ready.

Holding the doors open at a store – we show kindness to anyone who walks through the door, and we are reminding the people around us to show kindness to others.

Spreading a positive message is a way of showing kindness to each other. Everyone likes to feel they are important. Words can help accomplish this. “Kind words can be short and easy to speak but their echoes are truly endless” Mother Teresa

Johnny Depp – He will dress as Jack Sparrow and visit the children’s hospitals.

J.K. Rowling – She read and sent messages to a 9 year old with cancer who wanted to read the next Harry Potter book.

Tom Hanks – He would help sell girl scout cookies with some of the troops he would see.

Tim Tebow – He helps children without families and sick children.

Taylor Swift – She has given funds to help pay for college, treatments for illnesses, and recovery efforts for natural disasters.

Random Acts of Kindness

  1. Open doors for people
  2. Help clean up class room
  3. Help do the dishes
  4. Help with yard work
  5. Thank people when they do things for you
  6. Giving your old toys and clothes away
  7. Drawing pictures for people
  8. Making cards for people
  9. Read a book to someone
  10. Weed for a neighbor
  11. Sing songs at a nursing home
  12. Make thank you cards for police
  13. Make thank you cards for teachers and staff at school
  14. Bring coloring books and crayons to children’s hospital
  15. Leave pennies head’s up on the sidewalk for others to find
  16. Make get well notes for someone who is sick
  17. Say something nice to the people in your class
  18. Do someone else’s chore without saying anything
  19. Pick up litter
  20. Help with a fundraiser