According to a study by Harvard University, 80 percent of kids say their parents care more about their achievements and happiness than about whether they are being kind. Teaching children to be successful financially and have a good work ethic does not need to be exclusive of being kind, though. All of these lessons can be integrated into a well-rounded learning experience by tying them to everyday situations. Kick things off on World Kindness Day (Nov. 13) by following these tips:
1. Reward your kids for acts of kindness. Give your kids a “job” of being nice. Ask them to do one kind act a week and have them tell you about it. Offer a small reward for the good behavior, like extra time on digital devices or watching television. Or let your kids pick what to eat for dinner one night.
2. Get involved in charities. It can be hard for kids to be excited about charities because many limit kids' opportunities to volunteer and most kids do not have income they can donate. Create chores your kids can do to earn money to donate to a charity of their choice.
3. Encourage empathy. Offer to double the allowance your kids earn for doing chores around the house if they promise to use the extra money to help out a friend or stranger in a moment of need. Have kids use their own allowance money to pay for a drink, lunch or breakfast for someone around you who looks like he or she is having a bad day. They could even surprise someone at the movies with a bucket of popcorn.
4. Give your kids chores. Assigning chores to your kids not only teaches them responsibility and work ethic, it also teaches teamwork. By giving your kids jobs to do at home, you will be teaching them that helping out keeps your home more organized and creates more time for everyone to relax and have fun together. By teaching your kids how to help out, you can also encourage them to take on jobs they weren’t assigned just because they notice they need to be done or because they want to help another family member finish his or her work faster.
Gregg Murset is CEO of BusyKid.com. Formerly known as My Job Chart, BusyKid.com is the first mobile website that helps parents teach children about work ethic, responsibility, accountability and managing real money. Even though the website lets kids learn real life lessons surrounding earning and spending money, it also encourages strong character traits, good behavior and supporting charitable organizations.
