Celebrating World Kindness Day
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.
By now, if your child is in our preschool program, they have learned our Center wide expectations are to Be Safe, Be Responsible, Be Respectful and Be Kind. My favorite is Be Kind. In early education and elementary school, there is not always a set plan to teach children to care about one another. I believe there needs to be, and that is why I am so passionate about the iSocial implementation work we are doing not only in the preschool classrooms, but now extending down into the toddler program as well.
As educators, we must 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, writing, and math.
I typically write about love and kindness in February, but I learned recently that November 13 is World Kindness Day, an international holiday that was introduced in 1998. In celebration of this movement, I am gifting each toddler and preschool classroom the books, Kindness Counts and ABCs of Kindness. They are colorfully illustrated by Ekaterina Trukhan and published by Highlights for Children. Beyond these two titles, there are lots of books that teach children about the importance of empathy, inclusion, and kindness. If you are interested, here are five to look for at your local library:
1. Most People by Michael Leannah
2. Come with Me by Holly M. McGhee
3. Be Kind by Pat Zietlow Miller
4. If You Plant a Seed by Kadir Nelson
5. I Am Enough by Grace Byers
I hope you find moments of kindness in the month ahead and many reasons to also give thanks as we approach Thanksgiving. I know I am thankful that the entire team and I will be able to have a long 4-day weekend as we close on November 25 and 26 this year. May you and those you love, have a happy and healthy holiday!
All the best,
Teri Ann
