Kindness

Begimai Nuranova
The true meaning of Kindness
What does kindness mean to you?

Kindness starts at home. It’s about being true to our own feelings and values, and expressing this to other people so our feelings and values get an
airing, and so those people know where they stand with us.

Kindness is respecting other people’s boundaries. It’s trusting that that person knows what’s best for them. Ignoring those boundaries is not kind.

Sometimes kindness is difficult, it can mean watching other people slide into a dark place and have to face up to the consequences of their actions. It
means looking back at our own actions and facing up to the consequences of our own behaviour. Sometimes it means saying: “No.”

True kindness can be tough, and it can leave us feeling less than kind
Examples of Acts of Kindness
● Forgive someone a debt–and never bring it up again.

● Give a homeless person your doggie bag.

● Give care packs to the homeless.

● Help a child learn

● Help a friend pack for a move.

● Help a mother carry her baby stroller up the subway stairs, or hold a door open for her.

● Help someone for free.

● Help someone whose car has broken down.

● Help someone with yard work

● Leave a generous tip for a pleasant waiter.

● Let a fellow driver merge into your lane.

Kindness at home
Kindness is my mothering goal, in growing these little hearts, but in the day to day, sometimes I need more than the mile-long parenting articles and
perfectly scripted charts. In this season of parenting, I am always looking for that balance between harsh and permissive, where my children’s hearts
can grow strong but gentle, confident but kind.

After wading through for a while, and then treading water for a while, I ended up with a concrete, practical list of small ways to grow their hearts with
kindness. You don’t need a 500-page parenting book for this, you won’t find yourself spending 20 minutes giving your 3 year old “choices” about
whether or not he wants to take a bath, you won’t be suffocated with all the extra words of someone who doesn’t know your children or your life.

First of all, let’s get something straight: I’m using the word “easy” loosely here. Nothing is actually easy while parenting little ones, and no matter how
relaxed I seem as a mother, there are many days that challenge me.

But maybe you’ll find yourself yelling a little less, smiling a little more, and most importantly, being able to enjoy more of these motherhood moments
with the tiny humans you love.
Speak kindness
My parenting sometimes gets dragged down by the negative. “Don’t do this, don’t do that.” It doesn’t take too many days before I see negative results
of negative speech. Instead, speak the good that they do, every time.

I saw you being kind.

That was kind of you to help her.

It was kind of you to share your snack.

What would be the kind choice here?

Whenever I make the effort to commit to this habit, I see results in their own speech and treatment of others. It seems obvious, to acknowledge the
good that we want to see repeated. Yet it is a habit I still often struggle to be consistent about.

When I acknowledge their kindness, it goes from abstract to concrete. They now have an example in their mind of what is kind, and more importantly,
how to repeat that kindness in future.
The crowd who decided a fan should be able to watch the show no matter what.
A man who missed his train helping this older
lady with her bags.
Use manners
In our family, manners and kindness go hand in hand. Please, thank you, holding the door, making eye contact, smiling with a greeting, using the
person’s name when speaking – these are all habits I try to keep in myself and develop in my children.

Meals/food are one very concrete way to reinforce manners and kindness, and with little ones, it’s such a natural time for it. “Please pass the milk.”
“Thank you for dinner, Mom.” “Mikey set the table for us tonight, that was kind of him!”

None of these are mind-blowing, and I have no free printable to go along with them, but these work. They are easy to do in the middle of a busy day,
even with toddlers yelling and responsibilities calling. <3

Little things, great love each day. Because acts of kindness in these early years will be forever imprinted on their hearts. Because they learn kindness
first at home.

Age doesn’t matter to manners – manners are a form of respect, and respect is just one more way we show kindness to another person.e, and from
home, will carry it out into the world.
Support

Finding ways at work to help others is one of the simplest things to do to create an environment of kindness.
Offering to assist on a project, cover someone’s shift, run a meeting, or recapping a call, are all ways that you
can provide support to those around you.

It means so much to someone else when you offer to lighten the load. Most of the time the offer is
appreciated more than the act itself. In finding ways to pitch in wherever you can, you become a good
teammate and a great part of your workplace culture.
 These kids helping an injured member of
A barber who offers haircuts for the price of a their rival team to score.
single hug.
Learning from peers

In today’s fast-paced world, it’s far too seldom that we take time to really think about what we are learning
and who is shaping our knowledge. It’s important to set aside time to identify how others have impacted
you in a positive way. The kindness comes in when you share that with others, and let people know what
you have gleaned from their personal approach to work.

In the case my group,I learned things like directness, humility, love, and humor, just to name a few. I was
grateful to spend time acknowledging each person and what I would take with me from the experience.
“Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together
that overwhelm the world.” ― Desmond Tutu