Kindness Is Okay

I wish I weren’t surprised by this, but a couple of weeks ago a group of 4th grade boys surprised me when they wrote KINDNESS acrostics for the school’s character education challenge of the week. What surprised me most is that this particular group of boys doesn’t usually show interest in anything I teach or say, yet they wrote their thoughts about kindness—which felt to me as if they were sharing little pieces of their hearts. I spent a few minutes typing up their thoughts this afternoon, and I want to share them with you all here. I will bold the lines that I think are particularly profound, cute, or inspiring:

Kids should be nice to others.
I can show kindness to kids that have trouble understanding.
Not everybody knows what kindness is so people can teach them what it is.
Don’t be mad at people. Show kindness so you can be their friend.
Make new friends and show kindness.
Everyone should be kind.
See people helping others and give them a treat.
See someone getting bullied and you can show kindness to the kid who got bullied to make them feel better.
--Co.

Kids should help out.
I must help people always.
Never waste trees.
Don’t hurt anyone.
Never steal from someone.
Einspire everyone.
Share with others.
Show respect.
--H.

Keep each other safe
Interest in other’s feelings
Nothing about us is different
Don’t bully anyone
Nobody fights alone
Encourage others
See others problems and fix them
See if you can make stuff better
--Ca.

Kids should be friendly.
I like to help people.
Never push people. Help them.
Don’t be a bully. Be a buddy.
Never take stuff. Give stuff.
Everyone should help.
Share your stuff.
Share your kindness.
--K.

And then there’s my 5th grade nephew Henry. Henry’s kindness has never surprised me. He’s like me and wears his heart on his sleeve. So it’s no wonder that in between basketball games and a family birthday party on Saturday, he set up a cookie stand so that he could raise money to give to a ministry that he heard about at church. The church wasn’t doing a major push to raise funds. No one had been pushing him to do a service project. There was no badge or award to be received. Henry simply heard one presentation by the Zoe Ministry at church (http://www.zoehelps.org/) and decided that he wanted to help. Months later, he used his resources—the main one being his mom who once owned a cookie business—to set up a cookie stand and raised well over $100 for the ministry. Henry put kindness into action.

Here’s the thing, folks. The poems and story above were all brought to you by boys who listened and who haven’t become too stereotypically masculine to share or act upon feelings of kindness. I don’t know about you, but I want to do everything I can to help these boys know that while society will inevitably discourage it, kindness is almost always okay.