I guess you could say I began to notice the trend three or four years ago. Children entering my kindergarten classroom exceptionally smart. They could recite their alphabet, no problem. Name writing? Easy-peasy (lemon-squeezy). They knew every single letter, sound, number, and sight word. Some of them were even reading. However, there was something that was desperately wrong. Something that no flashcard, worksheet, or assessment could teach these children: kindness. It was missing in a big way.

Yes, these children were bright. They were and still are amazing. I love all of my students very much but what I saw in front of me were children, who despite knowing all of the "academic stuff" lacked a sense of empathy, kindness, caring, and selflessness. Some of these children could not even share during choice time. A simple game of "Chutes and Ladders" turned into knock down, drag out fights. Some children felt entitled or like the rules didn't apply to them.....as if the world revolved around their ever evolving attitude of "I want, I want, I want." What happened to teaching children to share? What happened to the golden rule of, "Treat others the way you would like to be treated?" What happened to "It's better to give, than it is to receive?" Could this just be a simple case of egocentric children who have not yet phased out of that stage in their development? Perhaps, but that doesn't mean that teaching character education should be omitted from the curriculum or not even introduced. So, what did I do? I began to TEACH children to be kind.

It started out very simple. Inside the classroom: we began to talk about sharing and what it truly means to be a kind person. This conversation and topic eventually evolved to how we could be kind to our school. What could we do for our school? School clean-ups were organized by my students, flowers were planted, and eventually neighborhood clean-ups were planned. I watched my five and six year old students begin to evolve into selfless, kind, individuals. These are 60 month old babies, learning how to be kind and caring! Eventually my class wanted to do something more for our community. We brainstormed ideas and came up with "The Lovies for Littles" campaign. My students and their families donated yards and yards of fabric and I brought my sewing machine to class. We carved out time each day to sew baby blankets for sick children in the hospitals. This eventually turned into blankets for other community organizations and charities, such as homeless shelters and more. As the year ended, and I received another group of kindergartners the following fall, I started where we left off, only this time, I began the year with a community project. Kindness was taught on DAY ONE. I am here to tell you, yes, kindness can be taught. What a difference I was seeing in my students. This class wanted to do even more for our community. We gave away the baby blankets to various organization, we helped a homeless woman in our community who was too sick to go to a shelter and who had to live in her van. I watched not only my students but their families give to this woman--things like blankets, clothes, scarves, gift cards, and even cash money. We were even featured on the news! My students LOVED giving back, and expected NOTHING in return. We had a "shoe drive" for The Jesus Center and ended the year with a bang by planning, building, painting, and finally donating a children's playhouse for The Torres Community Shelter in our town. Students and their families gathered on the weekend to help me with this project and we donated it to children in our community who not only had no home but no toys, nothing. The children watched as their gift was received by the other children of the shelter. It was magical. (Video can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEiJ7snrksI) I watched children begin to be selfless. No more arguing and fighting over board games. No more yelling and screaming. My students were kind, caring individuals who were learning to give back to their community.

This year is a brand new batch of kindergarten students. Just like years past, I see the same trend at the beginning of the year, only this time I have a plan in place. A plan that instills love for other human beings. A plan that emphasizes kindness and a caring heart. A plan that not only gives back to others, but a plan to change the world.

So, I ask you. Can kindness be taught to our children? I believe it can.