10 Reasons Teaching Kindness In Schools Is Powerful For Students
Teaching Kindness Changes the Classroom Community!
Phrases like "random acts of kindness" and "pay it forward" have become popular terms in modern society. There are even special days dedicated to highlighting the importance of kindness and organizations who specialize in altruism.
But why has it become so popular to teach kindness in schools? Perhaps that's best explained by those who have identified a deficit in their lives that can only be filled by altruism.
Science has proven there are good reasons why so many of us can't get enough of those addictive, feel-good emotions. It explains why kindness is important with evidence of many physical, emotional, and mental health benefits. But of great significance for schools, teaching kindness is a powerful and free resource to reduce anti-social and bullying behavior.
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Unlike previous generations, today's adolescents are victimizing each other at alarming rates leading adults to ask why.
Evidence suggests an increase in bullying (and cyberbullying) may be due to a lack of empathy, learned behavior or emotional deficits at home. In other words, children's behavior can be a reflection of their environment.
As a citizen, grandparent, father, and professional, it is clear to me that the mission of schools must include teaching kindness. Without it, communities, families, schools, and classrooms become places of incivility where lasting learning is unlikely to take place . . . [W]e need to be prepared to teach kindness because it can be delayed due to maltreatment early in life. It can be smothered under the weight of poverty, and it can be derailed by victimization later in life . . . Kindness can be taught, and it is a defining aspect of civilized human life. It belongs in every home, school, neighborhood, and society.
So, why is it important to teach kindness in school? There are many impressive benefits reported to support teaching kindness as an effective way to reduce anti-social behavior:
1. Happy, Caring Children
The good feelings that we experience when being kind are produced by endorphins. They activate areas of the brain that are associated with pleasure, social connection, and trust. These feelings of joyfulness are proven to be contagious, encouraging more kind behavior (also known as altruism) by the giver and recipient.
On a biochemical level, it is believed that the good feeling we get is due to elevated levels of the brain's natural versions of morphine and heroin, which we know as endogenous opioids. They cause elevated levels of dopamine in the brain, so we get a natural high, often referred to as 'Helper's High'.
Acts of kindness also help us form connections with others, reported to be a strong factor in increasing happiness.
2. Enhanced Feelings of Gratitude
When children are part of activities that help others less fortunate than themselves, it provides them with a real sense of perspective, highlighting their own good fortune. Being generous helps them appreciate what they have, makes them feel useful, and fosters empathy towards others.
3. Greater Self-Esteem
Studies show that people experience a "helper's high" when they do a good deed. This rush of endorphins creates a lasting sense of pride, well-being, and an enriched sense of belonging. Even small acts of kindness are reported to heighten happiness, increase energy, and give a wonderful feeling of optimism and self-worth.
4. Increased Peer Acceptance
Research on pro-social behavior among adolescents determined that being kind increases popularity and fostered meaningful connections with other people. Being well liked is an important factor in the happiness of children and it was demonstrated that greater peer acceptance was achieved through good deeds. Better-than-average mental health is reported in classrooms that practice more inclusive behavior due to an even distribution of popularity.
5. Greater Sense of Belonging
Everybody has a fundamental need to belong and feel connected to the people around them. Being part of a community ensures support is on hand during difficult times and helps to increase a child's perception of their worth and the value of their life.
Lack of support and the absence of warm, enriching relationships can have a devastating impact on a child's emotional, physical and mental wellbeing.
Being kind creates warm feelings of connection and trust enabling children to cultivate positive relationships which helps them flourish in many aspects of life. Moreover, it's not easy staying angry at someone who tries to make you feel good. That's why kindness can help to break down barriers and mend broken hearts. Teachers who actively promote a culture of kindness reward their students with improved friendships and feelings of belonging.
6. Better Concentration and Improved Results
Kindness increases serotonin, enhancing positivity and helping children feel good about themselves. This important chemical affects learning, memory, mood, sleep, health, and digestion. Children with a positive outlook have greater attention spans, are more willing to learn, and are better creative thinkers with better results at school.
Catching the "happy" bug from those around you (and maybe even those "virtually" around you) is a contagion that everyone should try to catch. Just being around positive people can be energizing, motivating, and inspiring and is likely to help you work more effectively.
7. Improved Health and Less Stress
Many physical and mental health benefits can be achieved by being kind. Altruistic actions trigger a release of oxytocin. This important hormone can significantly increase happiness and reduce levels of stress. Oxytocin also protects the heart by lowering blood pressure and reducing free radicals and inflammation (a factor for aging).
8. Reduced Depression
Depression is a condition that can be exacerbated by a reduction in serotonin. As kindness stimulates its production it appears that good deeds can act as a natural antidepressant. What's more, it's reported that acts of kindness provide positive feelings and strengthen immune function for not only the giver and receiver but also in anyone who witnesses them.
9. Less Bullying
Many traditional anti-bullying programs focus on the negative actions that cause anxiety for children. When asked, students felt they "were boring, repetitive, negatively worded" and that students would "zone out and not listen".
A more proactive approach where teachers integrate pro-social activities that build emotional intelligence helps change thoughts and actions to foster the positive behavior that's naturally rewarded with friendship. Promoting its psychological opposite is key in reducing bullying and creating warm and inclusive school environments.
Former researchers of Penn State Harrisburg Shanetia Clark and Barbara Marinak studied how to combat bullying. They advocate that adolescent bullying and violence can be confronted with in-school programs that integrate "kindness -- the antithesis of victimization". They encourage teachers to read picture books about kindness and act upon the attributes of kindness.
Teachers can help by critically discussing and unpacking the moral and civic values in these important stories. Victims, perpetrators, and spectators in complex school systems can speak more openly through a veil of anonymity.
The foundation of their solution is reading, discussing and acting upon the attributes of kindness, which “enables us to be our best selves”.
10. Enhanced Teacher Wellbeing
As highlighted above, the benefits of kindness to ensure optimum student well-being are extensive. It's also proven that kindness and good feelings are contagious so it stands to reason that teachers with happy, helpful, kind and considerate students are going to enjoy a higher level of happiness, less stress and greater wellbeing.
Simply put, when you hang out with happy people, you tend to feel happier, have more energy, and feel less stressed.
It's quite clear that modern education must prioritize the inclusion of positive psychology through in-school programs that don't just teach about kindness but encourage students to actively do good.
The neuroscience and social science research is clear: kindness changes the brain by the experience of kindness. Children and adolescents do not learn kindness by only thinking about it and talking about it. Kindness is best learned by feeling it so that they can reproduce it.
When used consistently, kindness is a powerful tool for nurturing the wellbeing of everyone in a school. It's a significant and important step towards tackling anti-social behavior but our research indicates it's even more effective when used in combination with social and emotional learning (SEL) and mindfulness. Below are some resources to enhance your SEL toolkit!
Resources for Teachers
There are many wonderful free and paid resources for teachers to cultivate prosocial thoughts, feelings and behavior in their classroom. Though they are useful in helping to promote empathy and caring, the evidence is clear that ongoing, social, and emotional learning programs are required to effect real change and sustain a positive school culture.
Free Resources
Paid Resources
Podcasts
Kindness Days to Celebrate
* This post is an update of my original article on Edutopia.
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AUTHOR: Lisa Currie - Ripple Kindness Project
Lisa is passionate about contributing to a happier world by building emotional intelligence in kids through fun and engaging social-emotional learning resources. Her core value is kindness as she believes it to be the “mother” of all character traits. She started Ripple Kindness Project to spread kindness in schools and communities. She is also the founder and director of an outreach program that supports disadvantaged families.