Cookie Camp Week 2: Compassion
Hello Cookie Campers! This week our camp theme is Compassion. Compassion means caring about others, treating them with kindness, and feeling a strong desire to help people in need. Compassion is empathy in action.
For kids, compassion might be giving a hug, making a card or saying something nice to help a friend or family member who is feeling sad or upset. It might be including a friend who has been left out or hearing about a need in the community and wanting to do something to help, even when you might not know them.
With everything that is going on in the world, we are surrounded with disappointments, loss and fear. Everyone is walking through difficult times. Each of us are experiencing changes that are likely negative and not our choice. I encourage you this week to look outside your own life and into the life of someone else. Put yourself in someone else’s shoes this week and think about ways you could spread some positivity and encouragement their way.
I’m excited to see what you come up with this week. If you are struggling for an idea, something as simple as a kind note in the mail can brighten someone’s day. Is there a long distance cousin, aunt or uncle you could reach out to? A past teacher you appreciate that may be experiencing stress due to upcoming school plans? A grandparent or elder that is living in a nursing home? What about writing someone a letter in the military? The ideas are truly endless. If you choose to write a letter, be sure to include messages of kindness and good feelings, reminding them that you are thinking of them, you miss them, even a reason you are grateful for them?
Parents, teaching our kids to be kind and compassionate may not be super easy, but taking time to explain what compassion means and helping them identify compassionate actions (could be in a show, movie, storybook) can help them understand. Be sure to point out compassionate gestures to your kids as you see them and encourage them to do the same. It’s so easy to get lost in our own feelings and emotions but if we are more aware of others and put just a little effort into the feelings of others, it really can make a huge difference not only in another person’s life but your own as well.
Cookie Campers, this is your week to be a role model! We all learn by example. The more kindness and compassion we show in our words and actions, the more it rubs off on others. Let’s all practice more random acts of kindness!
If you’d like to send a postcard, click the links below for a free download of our Greetings From Cookie Camp postcard!
What are some ways you could show compassion in your community? I’d love to hear your ideas in the comments below!
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