Kindness Is the Most Important Value Parents Want for Their Children
Does kindness matter in today’s often-harsh world? Recent surveys and studies have shown parents are especially concerned with instilling this character quality. So good news! Kindness is the most important value parents want for their kids.
Survey Says…
A study by Parents Today indicates that for parents, instilling kindness is one of their key concerns when it comes to raising kids.
“[The study] reveals that although parents believe raising kind children is the most important value they can instill, they also believe that kids today are less kind than past generations.”
Kindness Is the Smart Move
In addition to prosocial aspects of teaching children to be kind, there are additional benefits, according to Nick Morrison in his article “If You Teach Children to Be Kind, You Get Better Results in Class.” Morrison notes, “Children who are kinder and more generous to their classmates score higher in tests and make more progress than those who are less helpful towards their peers, according to a new study.”
Researchers speculate that a possible reason for the link between kind behavior and academic achievement is that skills involved in nurturing activities such as taking another’s perspective cause children to stimulate their brains. Additionally, it’s commonly accepted that kindness as a learned behavior benefits everyone—the children, kindness recipients, and the greater community.
Your Turn to Partner Up!
The great news is that partnering with parents in reinforcing kind behavior traits is easy to do. Verbally commending children whenever you see them exhibit kind behaviors and impulses is one of the best ways to encourage these behaviors even more.
So try it this Sunday! Keep an eye out for the kids who display kindness. Then let their parents know during pickup time. Your encouragement will reinforce the kids’ kind behavior—and you’ll be extending kindness yourself. That’s a win-win!
Read more about the “PARENTS Values Study” here. And discover practical ways to create kindness-centered environments for kids here.
