Want to Raise Thoughtful Kids? Here's How

Want to Raise Thoughtful Kids? Here’s How

Subtitle

Transform Your Home with the Kindness Pillar

As parents, we all want our kids to be kind, compassionate, and thoughtful. We want to raise the kids who hold doors for strangers, meet us at the car to bring in the groceries without being asked, and offer to help others without being told to.

So today I’m here to share with you a pillar from the Happy Life System that focuses on how to raise children in a way that they feel empowered and excited to kind.

The Kindness Pillar focuses on four key elements:

• Appreciation

• Compassion

• Thoughtfulness

• Manners.

These elements are the building blocks of a positive, loving, and respectful home and raising children that go out into the world with a kind heart.

This pillar is so important because being a kind human is essential to being a positive, happy human. With that in mind, I only want to focus on one aspect of this pillar today, and that’s thoughtfulness.

When you’re thoughtful, you recognize and anticipate others' needs and act with genuine care. And it’s more than a single act; it’s a mindset that influences how we interact with the world around us.

Make Thoughtfulness a Habit in Your Home

When we teach our children to be thoughtful, we’re helping them develop empathy and connection.

By focusing on thoughtfulness, you’ll see how small, intentional acts can transform the lives of your family. When you make kindness a natural part of daily life and model these behaviors, you encourage your children to think about others.

And if you’re thinking, I tell my kids all the time to be kind! Or I’m constantly telling them to help or think of others, but why can’t they just do this on their own? I’m telling you, it’s all in the language you use.

• Introduce the concept of reframing requests to foster a thoughtful mindset in children.

• Provide practical examples of how to rephrase everyday requests:

• Instead of "I need you to help me carry out the trash," say "I would appreciate your help with carrying these trash bags out."

• Instead of "You need to give the dog some water," say "The dog appreciates clean water. Can you help me fill his bowl up before we take him for a walk?"

• Instead of "Do the dishes," say "Can you help me do the dishes? We can do it together."

• Emphasize the importance of giving children the opportunity to reflect on their thoughtful actions.

Building a Thoughtful Home Environment

• Engaging Heading: "Create a Ripple Effect of Kindness"

• Content:

• Recap the importance of fostering thoughtfulness in children and its benefits for the whole family.

• Encourage parents to start each day with a conversation about how they and their children can be thoughtful.

• Suggest making thoughtfulness a daily habit by sharing thoughtful actions at the end of the day.

• Reinforce the idea that modeling and nurturing thoughtfulness leads to a positive, loving, and respectful home environment.

• End with a motivational note: "By embedding these practices into your daily routine, you’re not just teaching kindness; you’re building a foundation of love and respect that will benefit your children for a lifetime."

EVERYWHERE YOU GO AND WITH EVERYTHING YOU DO, PUT LOVE & KINDNESS

FIRST, AND WATCH A WORLD OF WONDER OPEN UP FOR YOU.

Whether big or small, it doesn’t matter, it is your Intention behind your actions that matters. For

example, focusing on love and treating everything in your life with Love and Kindness, whether that is

a dish, your car, your legs, your heart, your brain, a person, a flower, etc., cultivates a mindset of

Gratitude and Positivity.

Think of love as a VIBE. Each moment you are sending

out energy. If you send out love, each action comes

from your heart; you feel good, and your body responds

in a positive way. If you send out negativity, your vibe

lowers, and your body responds in a negative way.

The love you feel in your heart, body, and mind is what

creates the outcomes you experience Every day. When You

Walk in the world Holding Love and Kindness AT The

Forefront Of all That you Do, you uncover the True

Meaning of life.

You can tell your child to be kind, but for them to begin to master this pillar, they must embody

the experience of love and take action to make an impression and inspire their mind to know

how kindness feels. It is in the experience that their awareness is expanded. Within the Happy

Life System they will learn skills, habits, and responsibilities that they can begin to practice right

away and have fun doing it.

The 4 Elements For You And Your Child To Begin To Master Your love Together with Kindess Pillar

• Appreciation - Be thankful for the things and people who are in your life. Sometimes, just hearing a

“thank you” can turn someone’s day around.

• Compassion - With a perspective anchored in compassion, you strengthen your relationships and feel a sense of belonging in life. Whether it’s listening to a friend that’s having a challenging day or donating to someone in need, you are making an effort to inspire your life with more love.

• Thoughtfulness - Show that you’re THINKING about how you can take care of others without someone telling you to do it.

• Manners - Being polite and being kind go hand-in-hand. Both are actions showing that you are an aware and considerate person. Manners can be as simple as saying “please” and “thank you,” and can also mean giving another person space because you feel their energy and know what they need at that time.

The enemy of a strong Kindness Pillar is separatism. You are meant to live and create life

together with others. A sense of Belonging is what gives a person Purpose. Living from

your heart is how you unlock the most meaningful life.

With little kids, a great way to talk with them about kindness is by talking with them about how they can shine their light on something or someone every single day. Maybe it’s smiling at someone, holding the door for someone, or offering to share a toy. And the next important step is to talk with your kids about how they feel when they shine their light in this way. So not just saying, “hey be nice, hold the door for that lady.” It’s giving them the space to make choices, understand their actions and how they have a ripple effect on the world, and how offering kindness makes them feel. And it’s also modeling! So again, not telling them to open the door but saying “Hey, I’m going to wait a minute and hold this door open for the person walking our way. I know it’s a kind thing to do and they’ll appreciate it. It’ll feel so nice to help someone today.”

And another thing that’s so important is not having your kids be kind because they feel like they have to be or they’re being told to be kind. No. It’s helping them see that kindness isn’t because you must or to get something out of it for yourself, it’s to give to someone and recognize we are all a part of this world, together. And sharing your love and kindness with another human will raise your vibration and come at it with a feeling of knowing you have the power to make a difference.

The part of the kindness pillar i want to focus on today is thoughtfulness. Teach your children that they have the power to think about other people and what they need. Begin by talking with your child about ways they can be thoughtful. You can ask them every morning, hey, remember you’re going to use your superpowers to see what someone else needs in our home today, or at school today, or in the world today. And then we can talk later about what thoughtful action you took today, I can’t wait to hear about it. And then share at some point in your day your thoughtful actions with them, and let them share with you.

A huge place to start? Reframing how you ask for help in your home. If you want your child to be thoughtful, don’t just tell them to do things for you, reframe your words. Here are some examples:

• I need you to help me carry out the trash → I would appreciate your help with carrying these trash bags out.

• You need to give the dog some water. → The dog appreciates clean water. Can you help me fill his bowl up before we take him for a walk?

• Do the dishes. → Can you help me do the dishes? We can do it together.

FOR PART 2

And here are two ways to get some thoughtful actions into your life with your kids:

• Compliment someone daily - talk with your children about the power of giving someone a compliment. And that one small moment to share something positive with someone costs you nothing but can make such a difference in that person’s day. With little kids, practice compliments in your home with your immediate family, “Hey, dad, this dinner is delicious!” “Mom, your new glasses look really nice on you!”.

• Help Someone - create a connection with another person by offering them help when they need it. This is a great practice to start within your home with younger kids, then move on to neighborhood and being out in the world. It can look like “I’m going to help you bring the groceries in.” to “I’ll hold the door for you.” to “Let me help you plant those flowers in your garden this weekend.”