2023 August Featured Book: Ages 3-4

Be Kind   by Pat Zietlow Miller

Be Kind is about a young girl who wants to do something to lift the spirits of a classmate who is embarrassed and sad—but what?  She considers many options—a litany of possible ways to be kind—before deciding on just the right way to cheer her friend.  

You may check out this book from you local library, or purchase it from our bookshop.org store.

Developmental Markers:

• Becoming grounded in family’s cultural ways: language, rules about behavior, how emotions are expressed, gender norms.

• Absorbing social stereotypes from people and from media about other groups….May tease or refuse to play with others because of skin color, language differences, or physical disabilities.

Activities:

“Be kind” seems like a simple thing to ask a child to do, yet young children need coaching to understand how to put this abstract concept into action. 

• Ask your child to remember a time when someone did something kind for them.  How did it make them feel?

• Ask your child if they remember doing something kind for someone else.  How did the person react?  How did doing something kind for someone make your child feel?

• Brainstorm together all the ways your child (and your family) could practice kindness.

• Pinterest is full of suggestions to help kids, younger and older, practice kindness.  Pathway 2 Success “Teaching Kindness” includes a helpful chart with pictures that is free to print.

• The Greater Good Science Center has a great 2-minute video highlighting simple yet effective suggestions for parents who want to raise kind kids.      

• UnSelfie: why Empathetic Kids Succeed in Our All-About-Me World says “If a child can imagine himself as a caring person, he is more likely to care.”  Stress your child’s character, not just a particular behavior, when praising them. “Using positive labels such as, ‘You’re the kind of person who likes to help’ can lead kids to see themselves as helpers and be more likely to lend a hand. Positive labels also help children deposit those images to use in forming their moral identities.” Highly recommend this book to parents with children of any age.