I had a conversation recently with someone about the mission of Perfectly Me. I shared that Perfectly Me Programs are Innovative, Fun and Purpose-Filled to Inspire Kids to be Kind, Confident, Smart, Positive Thinkers. They asked me why “Kind” came before “Confident” and the answer was easy for me - kindness comes first because I believe kindness is the most important supervalue that a kid can have.
In fact, kindness makes a kid a SuperHero. If kindness shows up, everything is better! Can a child find the courage to be kind when others are being mean? Will they find creative ways to reach out to others in need? Will a child shine a light of kindness into their school and the larger community? Truly, kindness lies at the core of our efforts at Perfectly Me to change and save the world.
In our superhero programs, we always start with encouraging kids to be kind to others, their community and themselves. If you are kind, YOU WIN! That’s my philosophy even though I know it isn’t always easy to be kind and I also know that kindness isn’t always rewarded in our world. But, that’s ok, if enough of us lead with kindness, we can change things for the better.
Here are some ideas for how you can support your superhero at home in their effort to change the world with kindness:
Kindness Acknowledgement - Provide positive feedback from time to time when your child does or says something kind. It can be as simple as saying, “Hey, that was so kind of you!” Acknowledge kindness consistently so your child sees that it is a priority for your family.
Kindness Conversations - Engage your child in a conversation about what it means to be a kind friend. Ask how it feels when someone else acts in an unkind manner.
Kindness in Our Community - Create your own community connections activity in your home and/or neighborhood to show kindness. Activity ideas include:helping an elderly neighbor with a household chore or taking them a care package; collecting gently used toys and clothes from around the house to donate; or cleaning up an area of your neighborhood. Whatever you do, be sure to talk to your child about why you are doing it and why it’s important.
Bottomline, your superhero’s commitment to being kind will be strongest if it's important to their family. You can reinforce the importance of kindness with your superhero by talking about it, modeling it by being kind yourself, and making it fun!