Growing Your Child’s Heart

The evenings are becoming more and more hospitable to our family’s evening walks. This evening as we were turning around the corner, headed towards home, we noticed that a neighbor had a huge stream of water running from the backyard to the front yard. We paused to knock on their door to let them know.

Big Brother, the oldest in the family, stopped us before we could walk on after letting a grateful neighbor know of the leak. He turned to us and said,”You know, Mom. Every time we go on a walk, we find someone to help. It seems like all we need to do to be kind is take the time to look around and we find ways to help others.  Each time we go on a walk we do something for someone else like helping that lady and then there was that day we captured that dog running and found the owner.”

“Yeah,” Little Brother piped in. “Last week we found a lost cat and returned her to her home.”

The kids were right. We even ran into one more neighbor that needed a bit of help before we arrived home.

Big Brother has figured out what many struggle to connect. All we need to do in order to have open hearts to help others is to slow down and notice the needs of others right around us.

It is the beginning of the school year, a time for new routines and new activities. In the flurry of getting lunches packed and uniforms ready for practice, there is a growing group of parents looking for ways to raise kind kids, kids with generous hearts. It doesn’t take much to add ‘kindness’ elements into your family’s routine in an effort to foster a generous heart, to grow your child’s heart.

Ways to Grow Your Child’s Heart

• Use compassion conversation starters at mealtimes.
• Read kindness books about stories of kindness and un-kindness at bedtime.
• Complete acts of kindness with your kids, even the small ones help.
• Add kindness elements to family events like birthday parties.
• Teach your kids to be kind to those they see everyday. Deliberately complete acts of kindness for those that help your family like bringing the crossing guard a cool beverage at afternoon dismissal.