This past holiday I wrote about the joys and challenges of being with family.  One of my greatest joys was being with my great nieces and nephews.  Their ages range from 14 to 3.  They all played together.  Now that was a joy to see.  My two older nephews entertained and played with the their cousins allowing them to  climb, take their things and in general full on charge!  They were so kind to their younger cousins and the laughter and screeching was infectious.  I myself got to play Bingo, with a twist that I created, that raised a roar now and then too.  They had to name all their numbers…”Notorious 37″  “Be My Love 6”.  They were creative even the 3 year old whose was patiently helped by my 9yr old niece.

                                                                Three Easy Kindnesses                                                                               Kindnesses shared are truly “Gifts of Love”.  Learning to share kind voices and actions teaches children empathy.  This is one of the most important emotional intelligence skills and abilities.  It helps in communicating and relating appropriately and certainly reduces bullying.  Here they are:

  1.  Teach them to say something kind, and please practice, to their friends, your friends or their relatives.  Practice is very important!  This can happen at the dinner table or in the car! Ask them how they feel when they use kind voices and how they think the other person felt.
  2.  Teach them to offer help to their teachers, their peers and friends.  Have conversations in the ways they can do this.  Practice is essential! Children need demonstration.  Help your friends and relatives when they are present and always have a conversation of what you did, how you felt and why.
  3. Teach them to share at least one toy with their siblings,   Designate the toy and even a time of day to share their toy.  If they are going to have friends over, plan what toys they will play with and how they will play with them.  Structuring sharing at a young age is very important not to mention talking about it.

Being relational is so important and structuring it for children, teaches them how to interact with kindness and openness.