Kindness Counts

Teri Ann Cox
Executive Director of The Children’s Center

Dear Center Families,

One of my favorite Maya Angelou quotes is, "People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."

In early education and elementary school, there is not always a set plan to teach children about feelings or how important it is to care about one another. I believe there needs to be.

As educators, we need to teach children kindness. We need to provide opportunities where children can care and show compassion. When children have opportunities to tangibly experience these emotions firsthand, they will learn, because we learn by doing. Students will learn to be kind, by being kind. And I believe our world will come to know kindness when we decide it is as important as teaching reading, math, and science.

Your child will have the opportunity to learn more about love and kindness as we approach Valentine’s Day. February is also Black History Month, and Jana Bush and I have also asked our preschool teams to think about how to incorporate this topic into their learning activities as well. If you are interested, and would like some thoughtful advice on where to begin teaching your child about black history, check out PBS Kids, and specifically this link from a few years ago: https://www.pbs.org/parents/thrive/teaching-your-child-about-black-history-month

Here’s to a kind and healthy month ahead!

My best,
Teri Ann