Raising Kind Kids: Acts of Kindness for Kids

Raising a strong, faith-filled family in today’s society can be quite a challenge. I want my kids to be kind, loving, and helpful. During Advent over the past few years, we’ve taken the time to perform random acts of kindness while we’re out and about. We’ve kept candy canes with cards in the car, and passed them out to cashiers and families at fast food places and shopping centers. We’ve taken food to our priest, made cookies for neighbors, and practiced doing things for each other around the house.

But I want my kids to be kind all the time.

 

 

So, I’m tackling the topic of raising kind kids over the next few months, which means lots of concrete themes and ideas to help you raise your kids to be kind. I’ll collect all of the links here on this page, and link back to it at the bottom of every post, but you might want to subscribe to our weekly newsletter so you have all those great links, bonus articles, and subscriber freebies delivered right into your inbox.

I’ll be organizing the posts and topics based on the action words that describe the acts of service covered in the articles. The acts of service will be linked once they are live:

1. Advocate: There are people all over the world, and right in our own backyards, that are oppressed, poor, and in need of others to stand up for them.
2. Befriend:  We are to love our enemies and befriend the lonely, according to the Bible, but it’s hard sometimes to find ways to help kids interact positively with strangers.
3. Care: There are so many ways for kids to show caring towards others.
4. Celebrate: Recognizing the accomplishments of others — or simply recognizing others — is important service work.
5. Clean: There are so many ways cleaning can become an act of showing kindness for kids.
6. Collect: Almost anything can be collected and donated to a worthy organization.
7. Cook: Providing food to others is a great way to meet their need for nourishment and fellowship.
8. Create: Some of the most powerful acts of service are the ones that are creative and innovative – not simply repeating ones that have been done before.
9. Deliver: Sometimes it’s a greater act of service to deliver a meal than it is to cook it.
10. Educate: We need to make sure our children understand the need for kindness in our world.
11. Entertain: Lifting others’ spirits through music, drama, or other forms of entertainment can go a long way towards
12. Fulfill: Making dreams and wishes come true can be life-changing for someone…even the simplest of dreams can change a life.
13. Give: So many ways to give — time, money, talents, and gifts — that is’s easy to find something to do to show kindness to others.
14. Heal: The presence of children can often heal just by their loving enthusiasm.
15. Help: Children love to help and so this can be be harnessed into powerful opportunities to spread kindness.
16. Learn: Help kids find the meaning and purpose in their acts of kindness.
17. Mentor: Your child can benefit tremendously from close relationships with adults doing work in fields in which they are interested.
18. Organize: It’s a beautiful thing to watch children take ownership and organize a project or event to help others out.
19. Plant: Planting can be a tangible, hands-on way for children to show kindness to others.
20. Play: For children, play is social, fun, and can easily be an act of service — helping them learn kindness towards others.
21. Recycle: Through recycling, kids can show kindness towards others and to the environment.
22. Repair: Teaching kids that it’s important to help others with basic repairs is a life skill worth knowing.
23. Respond: Watch for age-appropriate news stories about natural disasters, and find ways children can learn about the people there.
24. {Keep} Safe: Help children appreciate the ways they are able to stay safe in their communities.
25. Serve: Children can be encouraged to find simple ways to show kindness to others within their neighborhoods.
26. Shop: Two part projects can empower children to spread kindness and love.
27. Support: Help children put the needs of others first and support them in whatever they need.
28. Understand: Empathy is an important skill to nurture in children if we want them to be kind adults.
29. Visit: There are lots of places children can visit to spread kindness.
30. Welcome: Teach children to welcome others into their homes and hearts.
31. Write: Make letter writing an integral part of their lives.

There are so many great ways to help your children learn to be kind and thoughtful towards others. I hope you’ll join me in advocating for and encouraging a love of others in our children. If you share about your acts of kindness on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google+, or on your own blog, use the hashtag #RaisingKindKids so we can all find ideas and encourage one another.

You might also enjoy these posts about kindness and acts of service with children: