Irish parents equally prize kindness and consideration in their children as they do personal achievement, according to research carried out as part of Electric Ireland Powering Kindness week.
Taking place this year from 17th-23rd January, Electric Ireland Powering Kindness will see small acts of kindness undertaken by people around the country transformed into much needed funds for three Irish charities – Irish Heart Foundation, Childline and Marie Keating Foundation.
Psychotherapist and Director of Solution Talk, Dr John Sharry today launched the results of research that links to Harvard University’s Making Caring Common initiative. Speaking to HerFamily, he said that the value of kindness and compassion is a very crucial one for children that has benefits for both the children they’re kind and compassionate to, and for them personally. Talking about the benefits he said, “It helps boots self-esteem and form relationships, and also benefits society as a whole, so you really want to put a lot of effort into helping children learn that.”
How can parents encourage kindness?
Although parents want to encourage kindness in their children, as well as understanding the importance of doing so, it can be difficult to do this from a practical point of view. “Parents run into difficulty because they often struggle when they see their children being mean or nasty to one another. They don’t know how to do deal with it,” said Dr Sharry.
“The first thing to do is try to always be encouraging and model kindness yourself. Be empathic to your children’s feelings and help them understand the feelings of other children. If your child is in a dispute with their sibling or another child, rather than going in to criticise and be angry, it’s very important to be empathic to both children, including the child who is being mean. Understand their feelings and frustration and help them understand the feelings of the other child.
“Encouraging the ability to kindly and compassionately resolve conflict is the essence of it,” he continued.
Dr Sharry also suggested encouraging children to take part in a routine of caring for others – through community or voluntary projects – in order to show how things operate rather than focusing on their own success.
While there has been an emergence of success, wealth and personal achievement, there is also a big emphasis on the value of compassion and kindness. “In modern times there is the awareness of the emotional needs of children and the need to have children learn kindness as well,” said Dr Sharry. “I think parents are much more sensitive in many ways to their children’s emotional needs than they ever were.”
Kindness survey
1,000 people (343 of whom are parents) were surveyed on kindness ahead of the Electric Ireland Powering Kindness Week. The research found:
Most parents of young children (82%) agree that kindness and consideration for others is part of their child’s daily experience in school.
68% agree the school system supports them in developing kindness in children.
62% say Irish society places greater importance on wealth/personal success over kindness.
84% of parents of young children agree that the best way to teach children to be kind is to lead by example.
