This past week my kids school started the first Kindness & Philanthropy club. It’s been a lot of work but exciting and fun to see the kids already take to the activities and welcome the students this year in such a meaningful. What has been an added bonus are the various emails and texts from the parents of these children with recommendations, articles to share on human kindness, things our world needs and various ideas on how to spark this flame we are hoping to create in our own kids, school and community.
One of the things sent to me was a blog post written by Chip & Joanna Gains and their company. It’s a simple concept that came from their hearts being so close to El Paso, Texas. These can be printed and used at work, at home, at school or even randomly posted anywhere you feel needs some good. You can click here to see their blog post and download their free printables.
I have learned already within one week that the parents are just as excited as the kids and I have received various texts and emails of gratitude for bringing this club format to our school. The parents are eager to learn, share and help their kids help others. Even better is getting an email from one parent telling me how one student went out of his way to an incredibly kind act for another without seeking accolades and just using kindness and helpfulness as part of his daily repertoire.
I have been piecing together material for our first parent and Ambassador meeting next month and have found various resources I have found helpful in sharing with the Ambassadors (ages 8-11) and parents in hopes to continue this passion through the rest of the school year. Below are some easy, yet impactful books and shows parents may be interested in viewing and sharing some philosophies with their children. Slowly, through inclusion and a kind mindset perhaps when my kids are of high school age we won’t see nearly as many instances such as Waco and Ohio.
A great Netflix show I have watched is one I think many of you would enjoy, Kindness Diaries. Not for younger kids depending on episode but one I dip into now and again. As stated in Becoming Busy’s blog, the show starts off each episode with this statement I wanted to repost from Becoming Busy:
She mentions a couple more on her page, but to me this one is the one worth watching.
A book I have been reading a few pages of each night to work on the messages I want to give the TKO Club to kick off their inaugural year in the U.S. is Radical Kindness. It has simple philosophies on living by being “Heart Kind”, how you have to start with being kind to yourself first, and is a quick, easy read. She is the creator of the cartoon, Daniel Tiger, which is filled with moral and kind lessons for kids so a great book with simple terms we can share with kids. You can find it here on Amazon.
More to come as I meet with our friend and creator of TKO, David Goodfellow, who will be in Los Angeles next month with more ideas and fun to bring stateside.
Kim
