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November 09 2019

Kindful Kids Weekly

Quote of the Week

"When you share love, you defeat hate." -- Andrew Penman

Raising Girls Who Are Includers Instead Of Mean Girls

"I remember walking into the cafeteria of my new school and it was like someone punched me in the stomach. I was in sixth grade. My family had just moved from Virginia to Ohio. At first, I attended the local Catholic school. Within the first two months, I was begging my parents to go to the public school because the girls were so mean. And when I look back, wow, they were cruel. My maiden name is Ackerman. They’d call me “Lisa Acneman” as sixth grade brought with it oily skin and some breakouts. When my parents discerned that I would change schools, I felt relieved. I won’t even tell you about the last day at school there when all the girls knew I was leaving."

This week's feature shares one mom's journey with being excluded by "mean girls" as a child and how this served as a catalyst for her to make a deep shift towards becoming an "includer" and inspiring her own children to do the same. [read more]

Reading Corner

Title: UnSelfie: Why Empathetic Kids Succeed in Our All-About-Me World
By: Dr. Michele Borba
Stages: School-age onwards

Why?  "Teens today are 40 percent less empathetic than they were thirty years ago. Why is a lack of empathy -- which goes hand-in-hand with the self-absorption epidemic Dr. Michele Borba calls the Selfie Syndrome -- so dangerous? First, it hurts kids' academic performance and leads to bullying behaviors. Also, it correlates with more cheating and less resilience. And once children grow up, a lack of empathy hampers their ability to collaborate, innovate, and problem-solve -- all must-have skills for the global economy.

In UnSelfie Dr. Borba pinpoints the forces causing the empathy crisis and shares a revolutionary, researched-based, 9-step plan for reversing it. Empathy is a trait that can be taught and nurtured; Dr. Borba offers a framework for parenting that yields the results we all want: successful, happy kids who also are kind, moral, courageous, and resilient. UnSelfie is a blueprint for parents and educators who want to kids shift their focus from I, me, and mine to we, us, and ours." -- Publishers

Recommended by Kindful Kids Editors

Be The Change

This week try to find a teachable moment with your child(ren) to help them cultivate genuine empathy for another -- encourage them to take the time to "walk in someone else's shoes", imagine how he/she is feeling and to consider their own actions in light of this to express genuine kindness towards this person.


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About

Kindful Kids was formed in the spring of 2011, to serve as a resource for parents who are keen to teach children about compassion and service. It is a project of ServiceSpace.

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Meghna, Deven, Trishna, Neha and Brinda are currently volunteer editors for this newsletter. If you have any content recommendations for this newsletter, we would love to hear from you!

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