To see them in action is to become aware of what’s possible.
And one can’t help being touched knowing they’re only 5-year-olds.
But in Plato, Mo., kindergarten students spend their days doing much more than using crayons and taking naps. As participants in the ongoing “Kindness Konnection” project, they’re immersed in concepts often considered beyond their years, like respect, courtesy, grace and – above all – love.
How is it accomplished? Kids mail cheerful letters to people all over the U.S., take walks to visit elderly “friends” around the Plato community and pick up trash during their outings. The first two aspects allow the students an unusual opportunity to make peoples’ days better. The third coaches them in community betterment.
The result is noticeable and even measureable.
The project was launched last school year by teacher Amy Hathaway and now includes Plato’s other kindergarten class headed up by teacher Heather Copley.
“It’s amazing to see how these kids react to being shown the ways of kindness,” Hathaway said. “It’s easy to think they’re not ready or capable, but they are.”
So true. Following last week’s second annual Kindness Konnection Tea, I’ve been around the situation enough now to realize it’s something very special.
I’ve now been spoken to with courtesy and respect by dozens of 5-year-olds, and I now know they’re by no means too young to be shown how to act that way. In fact, I submit that they’re the exact right age to be exposed to such practices. At 5, kids are still highly impressionable and pliable, and aren’t old enough yet to have fully embraced American society’s favorite forms of behavior, like selfishness, greed and entitlement.
We’re talking about an entirely Biblical principle here, too. Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”
That said, I would like to issue a challenge to all Texas County school districts outside Plato: Bring the Kindness Konnection to your kindergarten classes.
In my estimation, there’s no reason not to. There’s no down side – only the potential of steering young people in the right direction.
Yes, kindergarten teachers in Cabool, Houston, Licking, Raymondville, Success and Summersville will initially have to step out of their comfort zones a little bit and focus on something previously unknown to them. But the key here is “a little bit.”
While Plato has been doing it for a couple of years now and has built a database, so to speak, of hundreds of “friends,” all that’s necessary to get the ball rolling is to “adopt” one friend.
One.
Then, once things are set in motion, I guarantee the kids will hop on board big-time and the benefits will automatically start piling up. Before you know it, friends will be common all over the U.S., and unadulterated kindness will flow unhindered.
I know because it’s already happening in Plato. I’ve experienced it and I have no doubt the same thing can take place elsewhere.
And if there’s any need for some direction at the outset, I also have no doubt Ms. Hathaway and Ms. Copley would be glad to share their experiences and techniques. They’re not into keeping the Kindness Konnection to themselves. On the contrary, they would love nothing more than to see it spread.
Me, too.
Doug Davison is a writer, photographer and newsroom assistant for the Houston Herald.
Email: ddavison@houstonherald.com.
