If you follow my blog, you know that kindness both online and offline, is very important to me. When my now-adult kids were growing up, one of my greatest wishes was that my kids would be nice, would be kind. Of course, I wanted my kids to be successful, too, but I placed kindness in the number one position.
And I’m glad I did. People have often commented on how nice my kids are, on what great role models they are. That may not have been the case if my husband and I hadn’t emphasized character above achievement. Especially when our kids were competitive figure skaters, it would have been easy to emphasize the importance of winning
Sadly, I’ve seen families where winning at all costs was the goal. And often, the kids weren’t nice. In fact, they were sometimes bullies. No matter how much success they achieved, I always felt bad for them. And I felt bad that they missed out on the amazing character lessons that can be learned through involvement in a sport.
Updated 8/12/2020
Resources for Teaching Kids to Be Kind
I have many posts about character education for kids that emphasize kindness. Here are my main posts about teaching kids to be kind. The posts have lots of helpful resources:
Do You Follow the Thumper Theory?
What About Your Kids’ Character?
The Golden Rule for Back to School
Free Bucket-Filling Videos for Character Education
20+ Free Character Education Printables
Kindness Project for Children and Adults of All Ages
Using Variations of Elf on the Shelf to Encourage Kindness
Using Kindness Elves to Encourage Kindness {Ideas and Free Printables}
Using the Christmas Angel to Encourage Kindness
Including a Toddler in the 100 Acts of Kindness Challenge
Using Montessori Principles in the 100 Acts of Kindness Challenge
Free Grace and Courtesy Printable – Manners Matching Cards (at Living Montessori Now to go with my eBook Montessori at Home or School: How to Teach Grace and Courtesy)
The Ultimate Guide to Having Kind Kids This Christmas
New Kindness Elf Ideas for Building Character This Christmas
The Kindness Elves Meet Pete the Cat … and Go on a Great Adventure
Sweet and Simple Kindness Elf Activities for Toddlers
Focusing on Toddler Manners in the 100 Acts of Kindness Challenge
Free Kindness Songs and Rhymes for Home or School {Character Education Resources}
Completing 100 Acts of Kindness (Toddler Manners Challenge) and Starting 100+ Acts of Kindness
Free Songs about Virtues {with Character Education Themes & Unit Studies}
20+ Acts of Kindness Advent Calendars and Christmas Countdowns {Free Printables}
Where to Get the Best Kindness Elves with Options for Skin, Hair, and Clothing Color
How to Make the Switch to Kindness Elves from Elf on the Shelf
The Ultimate Guide to Kindness Elves
How to Have a Kind Classroom with the Kindness Elves {for Teachers and Parents}
Using Kindness Elves and Pete the Cat in a Food and Toy Drive
Encouraging 100 Acts of Kindness with the Kindness Elves
20+ Free Printable Manners Cards, Booklets, Charts, and Games
The Best Books about Manners for Preschoolers
Fun with Kindness Elves, 100 Acts of Kindness, and the Kind Words Challenge
Encouraging Kindness with Gardening Activities and the Kindness Elves
Encourage Kindness with the We’re All Wonders Picture Book
Encourage Kindness with the Wonder Books #ChooseKind
Simple Literature-Based Ideas with the Pink and Green Kindness Elves
How to Do a Simple Version of Camp Kindness
Ways to Be Kind to Humankind for Kids and Adults
How to Help Your Kids Get the Most out of the Wonder Movie
Teaching about Hunger and Poverty through a Food and Toy Driv
Kindness Project for Children and Adults of All Ages {100 Acts of Kindness}
100 Acts of Kindness Challenge for Big Sisters and Big Brothers
Free Inspirational Kindness Videos for a Variety of Ages
How to Add Kind Words from Books to the Kind Words Challenge
How I Prepared a Simple Kindness Elves Activity for Giving Tuesday (or Any Time)
The Kindness Elves, Pete the Cat, a Baby, and a Toddler Join Our Food and Toy Drive
Family 100 Acts of Kindness Challenge for Babies and Older Children
The Kindness Elves and Pete the Cat Join Our 5th Annual Family Food and Toy Drive
Family and Neighborhood 100 Acts of Kindness Challenge for Toddlers on Up
How to Make a 100 Hearts Sensory Bottle (100 Hearts Calming Bottle)
Equality and Peace Resources for Parents and Teachers
Kindness Word Art Freebies
“Golden Rule” Word Art Freebie (“Do to others as you would have them do to you.”)
Kindness Word Art Freebie (based on the J.M. Barrie quote “Always try to be a little kinder than is necessary.”)
“It’s Nice” Word Art Freebie (based on the quote “It’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice.”)
“Practice Random Kindness” Word-Art Freebie (based on the quote by Anne Herbert: “Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty.”)
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If you’re interested in inspiration and motivation, the best place for you will probably be the Bits of Positivity Facebook page. You’ll find lots of inspiration there from the Bits of Positivity blog and from around the Internet. For word art inspiration, be sure to follow me at the Bits of Positivity Facebook page and on Pinterest! And for all my posts in a reader, check out Bloglovin‘! Thanks so much!
Learn more about my eBook Montessori at Home or School: How to. Teach Grace and Courtesy!
Photo Credit: Photo by BlueOrange Studio
Related Posts
Free Bucket-Filling Videos for Character Education
Do You Follow the Thumper Theory?
Celebrate World Kindness Day November 13 … and Every Day!
The Golden Rule for Back to School
What about Your Kids’ Character?
Smart Girls Keep It Factual and Friendly
Using Variations of Elf on the Shelf to Encourage Kindness
The Ultimate Guide to Having Kind Kids This Christmas
Love the list of resources! Pinning!
What a great list. Thank you for sharing at Little Bird Told Me link party. I am pinning.
What a great list of resources. It’s so important to teach your kids these core values. Thanks for posting. Hello from Link & Learn.
Twitter: morewithlessmom
Great resources! Thanks for linking up at the Thoughtful Spot Weekly Blog Hop! We hope you join us again next week!
this is a great page love the post. i think A little kindness goes along way and and it is very important for children thanks for the read
Twitter: stiltworld
Thanks for this excellent article. I am a retired teacher who has taught in schools and at university level
and I found your arguments resonated with everything that I have thought about education in this country for years.
If only those who are in charge could grab hold of these ideas, what a difference it could make.
Twitter: kidstutsinfo
Hey Deb, you are absolutely right. Many modern parents give too much importance to winning and scoring more marks than their neighbor’s kids. They raise their kids to be more competitive. Can we blame these parents,? coz we are living in a competitive world. And to be successful kids need to be competitive. But it is evident that in these efforts to get their kids on the top they fail to recognize the importance of some basic qualities like Kindness.
Ultimately, if you don’t possess that quality what good can you do for the world?
Your list is amazing, thank you very much
Twitter: Lifeeased360