Mental Health and Wellbeing Coordinator

 Kindness and Compassion

“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.” Dalai Lama

Dear Families,

I have been so fortunate to be asked to work with a large range of students and teachers to help deliver lessons in Social and Emotional Learning (SEL). Teachers will consider the current needs of their class, depending on what is happening and the mood of the children. I am then the lucky person who gets to deliver a lesson with the class. The teacher will then work on the SEL focus from the session throughout the week. This is where the magic happens – not just from the SEL lesson but during the week through modelling the focus and praising the students as they practise the skill. 

Recently, the focus for many SEL lessons has been on kindness and compassion. Teachers have noticed that kids often forget about being kind and may not be self-aware of their actions and words. Kind and compassionate people may see the suffering of others and want to help them. They can bring positivity and happiness to others. The Dalai Lama suggests than compassion is the key to happiness. 

Here are a few ideas that may help foster kindness and compassion. Choose the one that best fits your family.

• Phone or message a friend or relative that you have not contacted in a while.
• Complete a ‘Random Act of Kindness’.
• Find some clothes that you don’t need any more and donate them to the local opp shop. 
• Talk to someone that you don’t normally talk to.
• Pick some flowers from your garden and give them away.

“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” Aesop.

Enjoy bringing kindness to the lives of other this week. 

Andy McNeilly

Mental Health and Wellbeing Coordinator