For the month of November, Mr. Bender selected the video, Happiness is Helping Others – which happens to be a commercial for life insurance – I know this sounds strange but stay with me, I promise its message is incredible.

This beautiful video shows how one person’s seemingly small actions towards other living things can make a tremendous impact on a community.  Pay close attention to all of the main character’s actions and how the other people in the community react toward him throughout the video.

One thing to note when watching this with a child is that education is not guaranteed or necessarily free in Thailand.  According to Unicef, Thailand is one of the 15 countries in the world which together account for more than half of the world’s out-of-school primary school age children.

After you watch the video be sure to keep reading for discussion questions the you can use at home and some ideas about how to foster kindness with your kids this holiday season!

Here are some resources you can use at home:

Discussion Questions:

1. Why did the main character perform these acts of kindness? Was he hoping to get something from helping other living things? In the end, what did the main character gain by being kind?
2. Does kindness only count when it is towards other human beings? Who or what was the main character helping in this video? How did those animals or things show they benefited from the main characters kindness?
3. What is important to the main character?
4. The reaction people have to the main character changes from the beginning to the end of the video. How were community members reacting to the main character’s actions in the beginning? How were they reacting towards him in the end? What lesson did the main character teach people in his community?
5. Has anyone every done something very small but very kind for you – that impacted you in a big way?
6. Have you ever done something kind and not told anyone about it? How do you think that would feel? How did it feel?
7. When you do something kind for someone, are you expecting something in return?

Resources

1. Try doing something kind for someone without expecting anything in return. See how it makes you feel.
2. Do something kind for someone and don’t tell anyone you did it. See how it makes you feel.
3. Holiday Season Kindness:
   • Citymeals on Wheels: You and your child can volunteer to make greeting cards for homebound elderly. Check it out here.
   • Donate gently used coats to NYCares.  Here are their drop off locations!
   • Donate items to help children and families in need. Check out NY Foundling. and organization that helps foster children in Westchester and Rockland Counties, and Puerto Rico. They often need baby and hygiene items.
4. Random Acts of Kindness is a great resources that groups acts in categories like Ideas You Can Do for Senior Citizens, With Your Kids, At Work, For Animals, etc.
5. 14 Ways to Encourage Kindness from Parents.com
6. How Parents Can Encourage Empathy in Children from Harvard Graduate School