During chapel time at school today we talked about kindness. The fourth-grade class leading chapel gave each of the other classes a random acts of kindness activity board and challenged the students to complete everything on it. Some of the activities include: sharpen someone’s pencil, hold the door for others, sit by someone new at lunch, give a nice compliment, and push in someone’s chair. Such a great idea! It is so important to teach kids to be kind. Our job as adults is to help them move from being selfish and self-focused to selfless and able to focus on

I have the opportunity to interact with many children of varying ages in my work as a guest teacher. One of the things I have noticed over the last several years is the lack of good manners that these kids display. I rarely hear them say things like “please” and “thank you.” Many kids make demanding statements like “give me that” or “you need to help me,” rather than asking for assistance. They often speak to those in authority with a very disrespectful tone.  There are a few kids who are polite; otherwise, the whole situation is a bit disappointing.