Kindness is under-rated nowadays because people are led to believe that it is a ‘kill or be killed’ kind of situation out there. Since everyone is trying to become the next big predator in this funny world of ours, the space for small acts of kindness has shrunk considerably in our daily interactions with each other. Parents and teachers are as much to blame for this mindset and it is therefore up to them to reinforce the idea in the minds of teenagers to practice acts of kindness on a daily basis. The world has recently been spiraling into chaos due to insatiable human greed and cruelty. In such circumstances kindness can prove to be a very valuable trait in a world brimming with bullies.

Starting Young

Teaching kids to practice kindness needs to start at a young age so that kids should know the difference between right and wrong from experience. The celebrated American author Henry James once said, “Three things in human life are important; the first is to be kind; the second is to be kind; and the third is to be kind.” This quote alone makes kindness look cool and happening. Why not help your kids realize the same thing?

Cool Mrs. Ruler

If you really want to extract pure kindness out of teenagers, you have to engage them in practical activities that involve practicing kindness in normal situations. One such activity is making them read a story about kindness, beginning with Kindness is Cooler, Mrs. Ruler by Margery Cuyler. Though the book is for very young kids but then so was The Ugly Duckling. Children books hold meaningful insights for both the children and adults if they are willing to read between the lines.

Anyways, the story goes that Mrs. Ruler challenges her unruly and mischievous students to perform five random acts of kindness by telling the children that kindness is far cooler than they know. The students are inspired by the teacher’s lecture and prepare a bulletin board for a special purpose. Each time a student performs an act of kindness, the other students put up a star on the board. They continue doing so until the class collectively reaches to a 100 acts of kindness mark. Children never thought that it’s cool to be kind until they commit to this habit with all their heart.

Coolness Comes from High Above

Scientific research proves that intentionally practicing small acts of kindness everyday helps teenagers to transform into compassionate and empathetic human beings. In addition, people who frequently perform acts of kindness get a kick out of doing so. Research suggests that when we are kind to someone our brain release the neurotransmitter dopamine. Who would have thought that getting a kick out of something would be this easy and convenient?

We are presently living in critical times as the world is experiencing rough social, political and economic commotion. In such times when violence has dwarfed all other forms of communication, the weapon of kindness has been hardly used by anyone since it is considered as an irrelevant tool nowadays. History is filled with examples of great men/women who have made their mark by engaging violent governments through kindness and have managed to show the world the power of kind strength. Tell your kids that if they could manage to harness such kind of power then nothing would stop them from becoming cooler than cool.