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Any time is a great time to read to your children (or students) a book (or 2 or more) on kindness. While preparing for a new school year, during the Christmas season, on Random Act of Kindness Day, during February for love month, during Lent to prepare for Easter, in celebration of read across America Week....pretty much all year long!
Kids are naturally kind, so I find they are very receptive to new ideas on being kind. One book I like to read with my kids is Kindness to Share from A-Z. It has ideas from basic social kindness skills like "listen when others are talking" to specific ways to make a difference like "collect canned food for people who are hungry." This book is probably aimed for kids around ages 3-8. If you have an older child who maybe needs a reminder of ways to be kind, have them read this book to a younger sibling - learning through teaching!
The next book is very popular in schools. Have You Filled a Bucket Today? has three main tenants to teach kids. 1. Be a bucket filler. Be kind. When you are kind to others, you fill your happiness bucket and another's bucket. 2. Do your best not to dip. Don’t be mean. By being unkind, you take from other's buckets and your own. 3. Use your lid. Protect your bucket and the buckets of others. Stick up for yourself and others, and try not to allow others to negatively affect your happiness.
I recommend this book because I love sharing things from my childhood with my kids. What parent hasn't read the Bernstein Bears? Kindness Counts is about sharing and inclusion in play. Just an FYI, Berenstain Bears are faith based books. (I saw many reviews on Amazon from people who weren't aware.)
This next book is about a Kindergarten class who are doing good deeds and acts of kindness left and right. Help your kids count how many they do!
The next book is a classic Dr. Seuss book. Horton Hears A Who! is great book (and movie) about being kind to EVERYONE. Here we learn, a person is a person no matter how small. My kids LOVE this story, and I do too! I also came across this related Dr. Seuss book that I need to add to my boys' collection called You Are Kind. These books would be awesome gifts for National Read Across America Day which is on Dr. Seuss's birthday, March 2nd.
Lastly, here is a new book by Lebron James. I think I will be putting this book in my first grader's Easter basket. It is about being kind to yourself and others on the quest to achieve your goals and so much more. Kirkus Reviews says "The NBA star offers a poem that encourages curiosity, integrity, compassion, courage, and self-forgiveness. Sincere and wholehearted."
HAPPY READING!
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All recommendations are 100% my own.