What is the Compassion Games?
A fun, hands-on, experience for your family to discover the powerful effect of compassion. All of our activities are created to teach, model, and provide peacemaking skills through acts of kindness, cooperative games, compassion crafts, service projects and more. This is a perfect intergenerational day for children and people of all ages.
There will be an 11-day kindness challenge leading up to the C Games, where your family can show kindness each day, track your experiences, and either email it to brooke@cfamily.org, or bring a story, photo, or drawing to post under our kindness tree the day of the event. You may also share about a short, sweet exchange, out loud, at our event. By showing any kindness, you will metaphorically be “passing a heart torch” (modeled after the Olympic torch) to another. All children who show kindness and pass it on will be invited to walk in the Compassion Procession to light the Compassion Torch!
What is Compassion anyway?
Compassion means feeling what others are feeling – especially when they are feeling pain or sadness. When we act with compassion, we show kindness. We show understanding. We try to make others feel better. We put others before ourselves. Compassion is taking empathy one-step further. It is not enough to simply feel for someone we should to “do something” about it. Compassion is love in action.
How can we teach Compassion to children?
Providing opportunities to show kindness is the best way to teach children compassion. Research shows that children as young as 18 months old have the ability to tune into people’s emotions. By age 4 they start to think about others’ feelings in relation to their own. Many of these responses are natural but you can promote compassion-boosting experiences to raise a truly caring child.
How do you raise a Compassionate child who truly cares for others?
Modeling empathy, verbalizing why you took action, and helping your child to envision themselves in another person’s shoes is the place to start. Recognize your child’s kindness, promote a “feelings vocabulary” by labeling emotions, and help your children forgo the boilerplate thank you notes by writing or reciting genuine thanks. Help others out together as a family. Let them experience how good it feels to do a good thing.
Is my child too young to volunteer to help others?
When you expose any age child, to the sufferings of others or to those who are less fortunate, or need our love in some way, it allows them to recognize their own gifts, they feel proud to help someone and feel grateful for what they have.
Show your children that you value kindness by saving the date for the Compassion Games. Take part in activities, crafts and games, together as a family, that we have designed specifically to help you promote caring and compassionate children.