12 School Kindness Moments That Teach Us Kids Learn the Best Lessons Outside the Classroom

• My teenage daughter dyed her hair blue before school photos. The principal loved it. On picture day, she came home early in tears and immediately tried to wash the color out. Then I found the note the principal had left for me: “Some parents need to remember that their children are watching how they treat other kids.”
  I called the school, confused. My daughter was upset after two parents complained about her hair while waiting outside the photo room. She thought she had embarrassed the school and asked to go home before her class photo was taken.
  But when her classmates heard she had left, they asked the principal if they could retake the photo with her the next day. He agreed.
  The following morning, several of them showed up wearing blue hair clips, ribbons, and even blue shoelaces. They told my daughter they wanted her in the photo exactly as she was. She smiled for the camera.
  And she learned something no textbook could teach her: sometimes kindness is simply making sure someone knows they don’t have to change to belong.

• My daughter’s last day of high school was today. In her senior English class, her teacher had all of them sit on the floor and said, “You started off in kindergarten sitting on a rug for story time, and I thought you could finish that way, too.” Then she proceeded to sit on a chair and read them the book “Oh the Places You’ll Go.”

• My son, who is 10, came home yesterday after school and said he played with a boy who was autistic and said to other kids, “I don’t think he is different and even if he is, I like different!” I cried. Couldn’t be more proud of him!

• Today when I was supervising 3rd grade lunch, I saw a student at the very end of the hot lunch line area creating a big gap and letting others go in front of them.
  When I asked them if they were okay and why they were so far back they said, “I actually have cold lunch but I stand out here everyday to make the people in the hot lunch line feel better for not being last. I can eat my food super fast so I have enough time, and I like making others feel happy.”
  The world needs more people like this 8/9-year-old.

• I used to volunteer as a Big Buddy, taking a child that lived in a shelter on an outing every week. The buddies usually travel in groups as a safety measure.
  As we were walking along the platform, we passed by a homeless man and I thought nothing of it. It is normal to see homeless people on the subway.
  As we found a good place to wait for the train, one of the little buddies who was about 7, ran over to him and pulled his lunch out of his bag, handing it over to the homeless man. The look on the man’s face was priceless. All of the buddies were speechless.
  I know that most of the little buddies have trouble getting their own lunch together for the outings, I was shocked by this particular kid’s selflessness. It was a beautiful moment.

• I do not mean to brag. When I was in the 3rd grade, seven or eight years old, there was a kid in our class that was missing a part of his arm. He had one full arm, and one arm that only went to the middle of his forearm.
  Our class was going to do a little performance. The kids all stand on the stage and sing. Maybe do a few moves with your hands. The song we were singing required some hand holding.
  I, according to my teacher and grandmother, said I’d do it and was more than happy to. I hardly remember much of it. I know I ended up next to him, and I discretely received CaughtBeingGoods from the teacher afterwards.
  Just for clarification, CaughtBeingGoods were little slips of paper you’d get when a teacher would see you, well, doing something good. You could then enter them into a little raffle at lunch every Friday and get fun little prizes.

• My family and I came to the US when I was in first grade. Didn’t know any English, and my parents got me shoe lace sneakers. I didn’t know how to tie them then so mom would do them for me for the day.
  This girl named Lori in my first grade class would tie them for me whenever I needed to and would try to communicate with me to learn as well as I watched her. She also played with me on the playground or would stand with me in lines if the class was going anywhere, like the library.
  She invited me to her birthday party. All this while I was still getting used to this new country and learning English. We grew to be great friends but my family moved away a couple years later and we never kept in touch since our families didn’t know each other.
  I still think about her and tried to find her at one point. Can’t remember her last name though. I had yearbooks from then but can’t find them anywhere. Anyway, she really helped me and I am forever grateful.

• In my freshman year I invited a girl in my art class to sit with me and my friends that came with me from middle school during lunch. She was an amazing artist, watched the same anime’s as us and is such a sweet, kind person. It seemed like a no brainer that she should join us.
  I had forgotten that I did that, until our graduation ceremony when she thanked me for introducing her to our friends. She had had problems in elementary and middle school, and inviting her to sit with us gave her the chance to make friends for the first time in her life.
  A small, kind gesture changed her life for the better. There needs to be more small, kind gestures in the world.

• My son hates sandwich crusts, so I always cut them off. After his first day of school, he told me to stop. I thought he’d gotten over it since his lunchbox came back empty. But one day, I saw him hide the crusts at home during dinner.
  When I asked why, he burst into tears and told me he had found a cat at the back of his school. He read somewhere that peanut butter and jelly could make cats sick so he was carefully peeling off just the crusts and feeding it to the cat.
  He didn’t tell me because he was worried that I would make him stop or tell the school and someone would take the cat away! The next day, I went with him and we got the cat some proper cat food. Needless to say, we eventually just brought it home!

• When I was a freshman in high school I had a math class with mixed grade levels. I sat on the far side of the room in front of a guy I didn’t know. We kinda kept to ourselves.
  One day he leaned forward and whispered asking if I had a hair brush. He proceeded to brush my hair and then braided it. He eventually did it a couple of times a week. Usually on days I had matching band practice.
  I also took those life savers creme hard candy with me to school. I would share those with him. I usually had enough to share. We would be doing classwork and my backpack would move.
  By Easter I was used to his kindness. Our teacher didn’t mind. We went on Easter break and he didn’t come back. He had passed away.
  Years later I actually met his mom and told her about her son and how kind he was with me. She was thrilled to know something new about him.

• In middle school one of my best mates and I got really into digital art, but had a little light-hearted rivalry because we used different software.
  Our IT teacher was one of those amazing teachers that really took an interest in every student; their personal lives, their interests — and he actually genuinely remembered stuff you’d tell him.
  Anyway, he must have overheard us ‘arguing’ about it or something during a lesson because he told us to see him at lunch time. We both assumed we were in trouble. Nope.
  He’d just got a Photoshop license for the school and wanted us to be the first to try it. He said we could come into his classroom any lunchtime we wanted to play around with it.
  20 years later we’re both designers and use Photoshop every day.

After reading about these small acts of kindness, it’s hard not to wonder how many important lessons happen quietly, without anyone realizing they’re teaching them. Kids notice more than adults sometimes give them credit for, and the kindness they show can spread further than they know. Maybe that’s what makes these stories so encouraging: compassion doesn’t always require a big gesture or the perfect words. Sometimes, it starts with simply noticing someone and deciding to care.

Compassion and empathy are probably some of the greatest parenting skills to have and to teach your kids. Here are 11 moments that teach us kindness and compassion still guide families back to each other.