Warming the Heart

15 ways to spread love on National Random Acts of Kindness Day

By Annette Benedetti

In a world that often feels hate-filled and adversarial, there is now a greater need than ever for infectious kindness and compassion. The best place to start growing kindness is with our kids. Every parent wants to raise a thoughtful child, but outside of talking to them about kindness and modeling behaviors in their presence, you might find yourself wondering how you might ensure that your sweet child grows into a compassionate adult.

February 17 is National Random Acts of Kindness Day, which presents parents everywhere with an opportunity to talk to their children about being generous (without being asked) while demonstrating how easy it is to change someone’s entire day with one, small, unexpected act of kindness.

Bonus: Your actions have a ripple effect! A study out of Stanford found that kindness is contagious. Additional studies have found that kindness comes with all sorts of benefits, including lowering stress and improving heart health.

In preparation for National Random Acts of Kindness Day, sit down with your kids and come up with a list of random acts of kindness you can carry out on February 17 and beyond. At the end of the holiday, check off your successes and make a list of the ones that you can easily integrate into your daily, weekly and monthly lives.