Every parent hopes their child will grow up kind and compassionate. While so much of a child’s personality is out of a parent’s control, teaching kids kindness is possible. All children can grow up kind; it’s a matter of guiding them toward these ten ingredients of kindness:
- Manners
- Respect
- Helping
- Sharing
- Empathy
- Consideration
- Encouragement
- Patience
- Gratitude
- Forgiveness
Each of these skills and virtues can feel intimidating to teach on their own, let alone compounded as a basis for kindness. Try to look at teaching kids kindness as a series of small, singular actions, like reminding your child to say please, and it becomes much easier to enforce and encourage over the days, months, and years of their childhood.
5 Ways to Teach Kids Kindness with Baby Dolls
Looking at each of the ten components of kindness, here are some activities you can do with your child to help highlight and enhance their natural instincts towards kindness.
Practice Saying Thank You
The very first thing your child should do when they receive a new baby doll is say thank you (if they’re old enough to say the words). Tell your child who got the baby doll for them and ask them to thank that person, even if that person is you. As they grow up, everyone who loves and cares for them will feel flattered and proud when they hear your little one say thank you. Those small words go a long way.
With baby dolls they already own, you can practice saying thank you when you have a tea party or a picnic (this is a great exercise for sharing as well). Have your child ask for and give pretend drinks and food, always saying please and thank you to show good manners.
This exercises:
- Manners and gratitude
Ask Your Child for a Favor
Children love to feel important and needed, but that means they can also struggle with listening to commands or showing respect when something needs to get done. Whenever possible, meaning when you have the time and don’t mind the mess, ask your child and their doll for small favors. “Can you or baby doll get mommy’s water bottle from the table?” Because their doll can’t move, they’ll rise to the challenge and show you how capable they are. Give lots of thanks (showcasing all those manners you practiced) even if there are spills. When you make things a bit of a competition between your child and their doll they might get more excited to jump into action and help.
This exercises:
- Helping and respect
Take Turns
There are lots of different ways to practice sharing while teaching kids kindness. We’ve written a separate post with some of our favorite ideas, but the key to sharing lies in patience. Kids don’t have a lot of patience, especially in a world where everything is designed to be instant. If kids are fighting over a toy or a baby doll, even if you do nothing, with time, one child will get bored and let it go. With an older sibling who gets frustrated when their younger sibling takes a toy they want, tell them that their younger brother or sister will let go of the toy soon. Comfort them while they wait, console them as they feel sad and left out, but then watch as the younger child lets go of the toy once they no longer find it interesting. In most cases, this should only take a few minutes. Give the older child lots of praise for waiting and the younger child lots of praise for letting go of the coveted toy.
This exercises:
- Sharing and patience
Say Sorry
Tears are commonplace for kids, and apologies should be as well. Teaching kids kindness means saying sorry, a lot. Make sorry a regular response in your house, even and especially for accidents. If your child drops their doll, even if the doll can’t feel, encourage them to say sorry. And if they fall, even if you were not involved, hug them, ask them how they feel and where it hurts, and tell them you’re sorry for what happened to them. “I’m sorry you’re sad,” is a great way to change the relationship around the word sorry. It’s not only an apology; it’s a show of empathy and understanding of others’ emotions, regardless of who or what caused those feelings. The more you use the word “sorry” in everyday conversations, the more your child will learn to say it when you or a friend feels sad or hurt. Once your child starts using sorry authentically, and not just as a reflex to avoid punishment, this opens the door to forgiveness. When your child accidentally or intentionally hurts you, then genuinely apologizes, tell them you forgive them and show them what accepting their apology looks like (with hugs, smiles, and praise).
This exercises:
- Empathy and forgiveness
Watch Others Play
Depending on the circumstances in your house, this one may be more difficult than others. If you have multiple children old enough for activities like sports or music lessons, you can teach your child kindness by letting one child watch and encourage the other during their performances, games, or lessons. Watching someone else from the sidelines can be difficult for kids with short attention spans, so that’s where baby dolls become important. Give your child something to hold, play with, and enjoy while they support and watch their sibling. Tell your child that you and their sibling are so happy to have an audience (showing them that their support makes someone else happy and proud). Show them how to cheer and clap and have them clap baby doll’s hands too. The more fun your child has supporting and encouraging others, the more appreciated they’ll be as a sibling or friend.
This exercises:
- Encouragement and consideration
Encouraging Lifelong Kindness
Every time your child picks up a doll, imagines their needs and emotions and cares for them, they practice kindness. Every time your child expresses that kindness with others you know you’re doing something right as a parent.
Show yourself and your child kindness as often as possible. Teaching kids kindness is all about leading by example and creating strong positive memories that build the foundation of their character.
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