Did you know that 53% of grandparents report being comfortable giving advice or talking to grandchildren about morals or values? These are the findings from an American study all about grandparents by the AARP.
This means almost half are not!
Yet, when grandchildren are asked what they remember about grandparents, it’s often a piece of advice that stuck with them or a value their grandparent shared and modelled.
One value grandparents want to share with their grandchildren is kindness – in particular kindness towards other people and the importance of being community-minded.
Even though you are at a distance, there are still so many ways you can pass on your values to grandchildren. It might just look a little different. Using the power of rituals and traditions is a good way to teach grandchildren about kindness.
Start a tradition from a distance centered around kindness and contribution. Chat with your grandchild (and their parents if they are younger) about what you could do together, but from a distance, to contribute and spread some love and kindness, to your respective communities. Do it every year together.
Here are a few ideas to get you started.
- Both paint rocks with encouraging messages to leave in your neighbourhood or outside a local hospital.
- Both write encouraging messages with sidewalk chalk in front of your respective houses or a retirement community.
- Both donate newspapers, dog beds or other pet supplies to a local animal shelter in your community.
- Both do a local clean-up of your neighbourhood, beach or park.
- Both write thank-you notes or draw pictures for older adults who are isolated during the pandemic. Virtual HappyMail was started in response to the pandemic. It’s SO easy to participate because you can write a note or draw a picture and then send it virtually to an email address. Emily, the 16-year old owner, will send it on to an older adult.
The possibilities are endless, but really, these are all just jumping off points for a conversation. Maybe it never moves to the action stage. Or it takes time to plan it and actually do it. Maybe you just share something you’ve done in your community.
There is value in simply talking about kindness. Here are some conversation starters:
- Who is the kindest person you know?
- What is the kindest action you’ve seen someone do?
- If you had 10 dollars, where would you donate it? (Bonus tip: follow-up with 10 dollars in the mail for them to make the donation)
- When is it hard to be kind?
- Do you think it’s more important to donate money to causes you care about or volunteer time to help others? Why?
For little ones, try using figurines or puppets to ‘act out’ kindness.
For older grandchildren, simply finding out about the causes they are passionate about – or even moderately interested in – can result in engaging conversations. It gives you something to talk about and provides a window into what they are thinking about.
I can’t get this song out of my head now: What the world needs now, is love sweet love…. (sorry, I had to share!).
Happy Connecting!
Kerry