Rachel Tomlinson - Teaching Kids to Be Kind: A Guide to Raising Compassionate and Caring Children

PRAISE FOR TEACHING KIDS TO BE KIND

Very relevant in raising children to be kind in our world today. Rachel points out that your children become kind through acts practiced daily. This book is a necessity for every parent; we all want kind children and this book teaches you how.

Emily Hutchinson, creator of The Hutch Oven

We live in a fast-paced world where children are often pushed extremely hard, and told that all that matters are tangible outcomes like grades. Kindness has been traded in for competition. I appreciate how Teaching Kids to be Kind circles back to whats truly important in life. How we communicate, how we make others feel, and how we care for ourselves should be at the forefront of what we teach our kids. This is truly a guidebook for raising wonderful human beings.

Ali Katz, author of Hot Mess to Mindful Mom

Rachel does a tremendous job of sharing the essence of kindness and what it truly takes to raise our children to be kind. As a mother, aunt, teacher and mentor, I love how Rachel mentions that kindness begins with us, the caregivers. This book is full of incredible, sound advice. The book is beautifully and simply laid out, making it both easy to read and understand. I highly recommend this book to any future parent, current parent, caregiver, teacher or mentor who want to help raise a generation of world changers... all starting with kindness!

Hope Comerford, author of Mom Hacks and editor of the New York Times bestselling Fix-It and Forget-It series

Copyright 2020 by Rachel Tomlinson

Foreword copyright 2020 by Justin Coulson

Illustratons throughout Getty/iStock.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Cover design by Laura Klynstra

Cover illustrations: Getty/iStock

Print ISBN: 978-1-5107-4702-9

eBook ISBN: 978-1-5107-4703-6

Printed in China

This book is dedicated to my daughter, Marni.

In a world where you can be anything, be kind.

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

W hen I was a young boyprobably around eight years of agemy father taught me a lesson that still affects me today. Dad was a milko. Back in the 1980s, his job was to deliver milk from door to door. He drove a little milk van. And Id regularly travel with him, helping drop the milk at each home along the route.

One evening as we headed home along a quiet gravel back road, Dad slowed the van and peered quizzically over the steering wheel into the dark ahead of us. Gradually, we ground to a halt, stopping just short of a lump or mound of something in the middle of the road. The lump was a man.

Cautiously, Dad opened the van door and stepped onto the road. Stay in the car, Justin, he warned. And then, Hey mate, are you okay? There was no response.

Dad took tentative steps toward the man, eventually arriving by his side and finding him half-conscious and fully drunk. Dads best guess was that the man had been on a bender at the pub down the road. It seemed that the man had thought better of driving and tried to walk home, but hed gone the wrong way and collapsed, wasted, in the middle of the road and was sleeping it off on the gravel.

With great effort, Dad lifted the man to his feet and carried him to our van. He opened the rear sliding door and heaved him into the refrigerated rear of the van. Dad checked the mans wallet, found his license and address, and then climbed into the front of the van with me. We drove to the mans home, where Dad carried him to the front door, rang the doorbell, and handed him over to an embarrassed, anxious, and grateful wife.

Its possible that my dads kindness saved a life that night. But it did more. I not only learned what to do when someone needs help. I also learned what not to do.

Dad could have used the mans unsafe, unhealthy, unwise choices to teach me about the dangers of alcohol. But instead of pointing a judgmental finger and using the mans poor choices as an example of what not to do, my dad taught me a moral lesson of a completely different kind. My dad showed me an example of how to treat others who need help, even when their difficulty is of their own making.

While researching for this foreword, I came across a quote from a church leader, Jeffrey R. Holland, who said:

When a battered, weary swimmer tries valiantly to get back to shore, after having fought strong winds and rough waves which he should never have challenged in the first place, those of us who might have had better judgment, or perhaps just better luck, ought not to row out to his side, beat him with our oars, and shove his head back underwater. Thats not what boats were made for. But some of us do that to each other.

Its easy to say, Well thats what you get for being silly. Its easy to moralize, take the holier-than-thou position, and ignore the struggles of others. But thats not kind. And it doesnt help or teach our children anything.

However, when we witness kindness, it elevates our souls. It builds us and inspires us to be better, especially when it is undeserved. Joseph Wirthlin said, Kindness is the essence of greatness and the fundamental characteristic of the noblest men and women that I have known. I believe him. What a powerful precept to pass on to our children.

We live in a world where it is easy to become discouraged. There is so much unkindness. Our politics, our sports, our news, driving on our roads, social media: everywhere we turn, there are examples of terrible unkindness, malice, and enmity. But while unkindness makes the news, we should not be fooled. Kindness is