World Kindness Day 2011

Today is World Kindness Day but let us be kind to others not just today but everyday.

Just as respect begets respect, kindness begets kindness.

We should teach our children to use the three magic words:

THANK YOU

PLEASE

EXCUSE ME

If they begin to learn using those words at home when they speak to their family members, they will likely use it when they talk to strangers when they are in school, playground and basically everywhere they go.

Children don't learn the three magic words by just telling them once. It is through inculcating in their young minds persistently and by practising what we preach.

If there's something i am proud about my 9-year old daughter, it is the way she expresses GRATEFULNESS in her heart. Though we only teach her to say thank you everytime somebody does something for her, she doesn't just say THANK YOU and walk away. She says thank you with a tight hug and sweet kiss to mommy and daddy always even for the simplest favor that we do for her. Not just that. She would add the sweetest words like "You are the best dad/mom in the world!". She has yet to master the art of saying PLEASE and EXCUSE ME though but i never get tired of reminding her to do so. We all have varrying parenting styles. Parenting is an everyday learning process. No one can ever be a perfect parent and there is no rignt or wrong. At the end of the day, all we wish for is to bring up our children to be God-fearing and be kind to others.

FYI: The idea behind the World Kindness Movement (WKM) crystallised at a conference in Tokyo in 1997 when the Small Kindness Movement of Japan brought together like-minded kindness movements from around the world. The WKM was officially launched in Singapore on 18 November 2000 at the 3rd WKM Conference. The mission of the WKM is to inspire individuals towards greater kindness and to connect nations to create a kinder world. ~ http://www.worldkindness.org.sg/