2011 May | Positive Parent Plus | Practical Parenting Help

Introduce specialized teaching for dyscalculia in schools, urge experts

Specialised teaching for individuals with dyscalculia, the mathematical equivalent of dyslexia, should be made widely available in mainstream education, according to a review of current research published today in the journal Science.

Although just as common as dyslexia, with an estimated prevalence of up to 7% of the population, dyscalculia has been neglected as a disorder of cognitive development. However, a world-wide effort by scientists and educators has established the essential neural network that supports arithmetic, and revealed abnormalities in this network in the brains of dyscalulic learners.

Neuroscience research shows what kind of help is most needed – strengthening simple number concepts. This can be achieved with appropriate specially-designed teaching schemes, which can be supported by game-like software that adapts to the learner's current level of competence.

Professor Brian Butterworth, co-author of the paper and a member of the Centre for Educational Neuroscience (CEN) from the UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, said: "Dyscalculia is at least as much of a handicap for individuals as dyslexia and a very heavy burden on the state, with the estimated cost to the UK of low numeracy standing at £2.4 billion."

"Nevertheless, there are only cursory references to the disorder on the Department of Education website – no indications are offered for help either for learners, teachers or parents. It's as if the government does not want to acknowledge its existence."

Like dyslexia, dyscalculia is a condition we are born with, and may be heritable in many or most cases. Research from twins and special populations suggests that an arithmetical disability has a large genetic component, but the genes responsible have not yet been located.

Professor Diana Laurillard, another co-author and a member of CEN from the Institute of Education (IOE), University of London, said: "Just because dyscalculia is inherited it does not mean that there is nothing that can be done about it. As with dyslexia, specialized teaching can help. At the IOE we have developed software resources specifically to help children with dyscalculia, based on brain research showing exactly what problems the brain is having."

One of the main challenges of the effort to understand dyscalculia, is for scientists from these very different disciplines to understand each others' methods and results. The creation of interdisciplinary and inter-institutional centres to promote joint work, such as the Centre for Educational Neuroscience established by UCL (University College London); the Institute of Education, University of London and Birkbeck University of London, aims to address this challenge.

Professor Laurillard added: "Results from neuroscience and developmental psychology tell us that dyscalculic learners need to practice far more number manipulation tasks than mainstream learners. Adaptive, game-like programs that focus on making numbers meaningful, emulating what skilled SEN teachers do, can help learners practice beyond the classroom and build the basic understanding they need to tackle arithmetic."

###

Notes for Editors

1. For more information or to interview Prof Brian Butterworth or Professor Diana Laurillard, please contact Clare Ryan in the UCL Media Relations Office on tel: +44 (0)20 3108 3846, mobile: +44 07747 565 056, out of hours +44 (0)7917 271 364, e-mail:clare.ryan@ucl.ac.uk.

2. IOE press office contacts: Diane Hofkins on +44 (0)20 7911 5423 email: d.hofkins@ioe.ac.uk or James Russell on +44 (0)20 7911 5556 j.russell@ioe.ac.uk

3. "Dyscalculia: From Brain to Education" is published online today in Science. Journalists can obtain copies of the paper by contacting UCL Media Relations.

What is dyscalculia?

Examples of common indicators of dyscalculia are (i) carrying out simple number comparison and addition tasks by counting, often using fingers, well beyond the age when it is normal, and (ii) finding approximate estimation tasks difficult. Individuals identified as dyscalculic behave differently from their mainstream peers, for example:

To say which is the larger of two playing cards showing 5 and 8, they count all the symbols on each card.
To place a playing card of 8 in sequence between a 3 and a 9 they count up spaces between the two to identify where the 8 should be placed.
To count down from 10 they count up from 1 to 10, then 1 to 9, etc.
To count up from 70 in tens, they say '70, 80, 90, 100, 200, 300…'
They estimate the height of a normal room as '200 feet?'

About UCL (University College London)

Founded in 1826, UCL was the first English university established after Oxford and Cambridge, the first to admit students regardless of race, class, religion or gender, and the first to provide systematic teaching of law, architecture and medicine. UCL is among the world's top universities, as reflected by performance in a range of international rankings and tables. Alumni include Marie Stopes, Jonathan Dimbleby, Lord Woolf, Alexander Graham Bell, and members of the band Coldplay. UCL currently has over 13,000 undergraduate and 9,000 postgraduate students. Its annual income is over £700 million. www.ucl.ac.uk

About the IOE (Institute of Education)

The Institute of Education is a college of the University of London that specialises in education and related areas of social science and professional practice. In the most recent Research Assessment Exercise two-thirds of the Institute's research activity was judged to be internationally significant and over a third was judged to be "world leading". The Institute was recognised by Ofsted in 2010 for its "high quality" initial teacher training programmes that inspire its students "to want to be outstanding teachers". The IOE is a member of the 1994 Group, which brings together 19 internationally renowned, research-intensive universities.

About the Centre for Educational Neuroscience (CEN)

The CEN came into being in 2008 as a transdisciplinary, collaborative effort involving leading academics in their fields from University College London, Institute of Education and Birkbeck College. As a virtual centre it has run a series of discussion seminars, practitioner workshops, and international conferences and is moving to run a Masters level degree in Educational Neuroscience from October 2011. The CEN is planning to begin stand-alone research and will publish the first 'Handbook of Educational Neuroscience' with Wiley-Blackwell in early 2012. www.educationalneuroscience.org.uk

New research shows a visit to a zoo boosts science and environment knowledge

Research from the University of Warwick shows a trip to the zoo can boost your child’s science and conservation education more than books or classroom teaching alone.

In research conducted at ZSL London Zoo, more than 3,000 school children aged between seven and 14 were asked about their knowledge of animals, habitat and conservation and then tested again after their trip.

The results show that 53% had a positive change in educational or conservation-related knowledge areas, personal concern for endangered species or new empowerment to participate in conservation efforts. The study proves that their trip around the zoo provided a statistically significant increase in scientific learning about animals and habitats. When zoo visits were supplemented by an educational presentation by zoo staff this increase in learning almost doubled against self-guided visits.

Eric Jensen, a Professor of Sociology at the University of Warwick, who produced the report said: “Globally, more than a tenth of the world’s population passes through zoos annually so the potential is there to reach a huge audience.

“In recent years zoos have come under criticism for failing to demonstrate educational impact with certain lobbying groups arguing that it’s cruel to keep animals captive. But zoos have been changing for years now to offer more educational and conservation information; ‘behind the scenes’ access for visitors; learning about habitat conservation work – all of which culminate in a better engagement experience for the visitor.”

Children came away with a greater understanding of ideas such as conservation, habitat and extinction. Amongst those who had not previously registered a concern about species extinction, 39% switched to registering such a concern directly after a zoo trip.

The children were asked to draw their favourite animals and habitats before and after their trip to the zoo. The drawings were analysed and showed some remarkable improvements. Some 51% of ten-year-olds showed a real change in the drawings and the use of correct scientific terms such as ‘canopy’ and ‘rainforest’ and had a higher amount of animals placed in the correct habitat, e.g. a meerkat drawn in the desert.

zoo drawings

Eric added: “The research clearly shows the valuable role that zoos can play in children’s science learning. So with another Bank Holiday fast approaching, why not swap the theme park for a good zoo? Your kids and their favourite animals may thank you in years to come!”

To see the report in full:

http://warwick.academia.edu/EricJensen/Papers/402822/Learning_about_animals_science_and_conservation_Large-scale_survey-based_evaluation_of_the_educational_impact_of_the_ZSL_London_Zoo_Formal_Learning_programme

For further information contact Eric Jensen on +44 (0)24 7652 8427 m: +44(0)7894 222586 or Kate Cox, Communications Manager on +44 (0)2476 574255/150483, m: +44(0)7920 531221 or kate.cox@warwick.ac.uk.

New University of Houston research study links job stress in teachers to student achievement

3-year longitudinal study involves 200 middle school teachers and 20 H.I.S.D. schools



		IMAGE: Teresa McIntyre is a research professor in the department of psychology, University of Houston, and principal investigator. Click here for more information.

After 17 years of researching traumatic stress with war-afflicted populations (veterans and civilians) and job stress in the medical profession, Teresa McIntyre, a research professor in the department of psychology and the Texas Institute for Evaluation, Measurement and Statistics (TIMES), at the University of Houston (UH), decided to study another high risk occupation, middle school teachers in seventh and eighth grade.

"Teaching is a highly stressful occupation," McIntyre said. "Teacher stress affects various aspects of teacher health and may influence how effective teachers are in the classroom, with potential consequences for their students' behavior and learning.

"I started to research the literature on stress and teachers in the U.S. and found very little information. There was no comprehensive study of teachers' stress or even an audit of the percentage of teachers who are stressed. I saw a void here and a need to study."

McIntyre serves as primary investigator for a $1.6 million grant funded by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), U.S. Department of Education, titled, "Using Longitudinal and Momentary Analysis to Study the Impact of Middle School Teachers' Stress on Teacher Effectiveness, Student Behavior and Achievement."

The research study starts at the beginning of this coming school year and follows 200 seventh-and eighth-grade social studies, science or math teachers in 20 middle schools in H.I.S.D. and thousands of students over a three-year period. The research team intends to identify predictors and outcomes of job stress in middle school teachers, linking teacher stress to student behavior and achievement via teacher effectiveness. The results of the data can be used to guide further development of interventions to mitigate teacher stress and, consequently, improve teacher effectiveness and student behavior and learning.



		IMAGE: Teachers use the i-Pod Touch to monitor their stress at work. Click here for more information.

"Middle school is probably the most difficult level to teach because student-teacher interactions are more difficult during this time, and this kind of difficulty in teacher-student interactions is a major source of stress for teachers at this level," McIntyre said. "For students it's a time of adolescence and many changes developmentally, and that is going to affect the dynamics of learning, as well as the social relationships and climate in the classroom. It's going to affect the teachers as well. Our premise is that if the teacher is stressed, their behavior will be different with students, and they will perform differently with students."

McIntyre conducted a pilot study in the Greater Houston area in 2010 that indicated that at least one third of middle school teachers may be significantly stressed.

The UH research team will combine an innovative multi-method approach to assessing stress and teacher effectiveness, which involves ecological momentary assessment or real-time assessment, concurrent physiological measurements that will monitor blood pressure and heart rate, and in-classroom observational ratings. The researchers will use the most current technology to assess stress, which includes self-report on a Teacher Stress Diary using an iPod Touch platform, and teacher effectiveness ratings on an iPad. Data will be collected on students in the teachers' classroom using teacher stress diaries, archival school records and observational ratings. The innovative software programs are being developed by Sean Woodward at TIMES and the novel statistical methodologies required to analyze the intensive longitudinal data generated by real time assessment will be provided by TIMES and the UH department of psychology faculty Paras Mehta. The methodological and technical support provided by the UH's TIMES, directed by David Francis, as well as its expertise in education research, are key to the implementation of this type of study.

"With this study we will be able to get a more dynamic picture of how teachers respond to stress in real time," McIntyre said. "And that's what this ecological momentary assessment does – it assesses stress through the person's diary report of stress when things are happening, very close to the event. Teachers will be able to report their emotions – positive, negative; how their cognitive functions are affected by stress; and what's happening at the moment in terms of social interactions, social conflict, demands on the job, the time pressure and whether they feel they are in control of their situation. They also report on effectiveness in instruction and classroom management, an on their student's behavior in the classroom"

McIntyre notes the larger contribution of the study is to take the pulse of the educational system and see what's happening in challenging economic times and to evaluate what impact this has on teachers and students, "The study addresses a key issue in contemporary education: how to improve teacher quality in the face of increasing demands in the education system; it is all about supporting teachers, students and school administrators at a time of depleted resources."

The results of the study may be used to guide further development of interventions to mitigate teacher stress and, consequently, improve teacher effectiveness and student behavior and learning. The data collected will be useful for school administrators and principals to know, such as what factors are causing teachers to be more stressed and less effective, and what resources can be arranged to change that trajectory into a positive one.

###

The research project is a collaborative effort with UH, the University of Houston-Clear Lake (UH-CL), the University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine, and the Houston Independent School District (H.I.S.D.). UH collaborators are Paras Mehta, David Francis, Angelia Durand and Pat Taylor (psychology and TIMES), and Scott McIntyre (UH-CL); UH advisory board members are Christiane Spitzmueller and Qian Lu (psychology), and Chris Wolters (educational psychology); consultant is Dr. Thomas Kamarck, University of Pittsburgh.

Labels Are For Cans, Not People

“Labels are for cans, not people.” ~Anthony Rapp

I had a weird experience this past weekend. My youngest son and some of his friends had a bonfire on Saturday night. (Don't worry, I watched the whole thing and it was all done safely with the fire doused at the end.)

One of the young ladies at the bonfire arrived with friends and toward the end her Mom came to hang out and then take her home. I have seen the Mom around school but I don't know her.

When the daughter saw the Mom, she said, “Oh, no!” I understood it to be mostly out of surprise, perhaps not expecting to get picked up or not expecting her Mom so early. Her mother's response was, “Yes, the witch has arrived.” The Mom referred to herself a few more times during the evening as “The Witch”.

Now, as I said, I don't know the Mom or the daughter and I really don't know the relationship they have, but I was so bothered that this women would accept the label of “Witch”. Deep down, every child knows that what their parents do is out of love and wanting to protect and nurture their children. Often, children will disagree with the means to that end, but rarely is the goal disputed. And some children may harbor some doubts about the goal, but, I believe, they are pretty sure that their parents want to support them.

But if you tell your child that you are a witch, they may have more doubts than average. They may be less and less sure that you only have their highest good in mind. When you label yourself it is often limiting and usually negative. Even the label “parent” often limits us in how much we can be our children's “friend”. We certainly act in a friendly manner, but there is a limit. This is not bad, but it is limiting.

Imagine the limits you are putting on yourself when you label yourself “Witch”. Or if you label yourself “Uncaring”, as in “I don't care what you think or what you want”.

Imagine the difference if you give yourself the label “Loving” as in “You have to go to sleep now because I love you and I think it is the best thing for you.”

Obviously, the remarks that I heard were said against a background of a deep relationship. Some parents purposefully steer their relationship with their kids in a certain direction. Some parents rarely give it a thought and are then surprised when the relationship turns out to be negative.

So think about the labels you and your kids might put on your relationship and how those labels might change the relationship.

And while you are at it, think about the labels you put on your children. Perhaps “lazy”, perhaps “sloppy”. I used to use a label of “not careful”.

So be careful with your labels, be careful with your words and, most of all, be careful with your relationships!

Feel free to use this article on your website or ezine. If you do, include the following bio. If you would like to print and distribute this article, click here.

Shaya Kass, PhD is a parenting coach.

I help parents create relationships with their kids that give a lifetime of smiles. Sincere, deep, loving relationships. Having a parent coach can help you create one of these fabulous relationships. I offer tips and techniques for growing happy, inspired kids and parents at http://www.PositiveParentPlus.com.

Visit now for a free report on The 7 Key Steps to Being A Positive Parent.

Shaya can be reached at DrShaya@PositiveParentPlus.com

New study finds that violence doesn’t add to children’s enjoyment of TV shows, movies

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Despite growing concern about the effects of media violence on children, violent television shows and movies continue to be produced and marketed to them. An Indiana University research study concludes that violence doesn't add anything to their enjoyment of such programs and their characters.

In a research study published in the journal Media Psychology, Andrew J. Weaver, an assistant professor of telecommunications in IU's College of Arts and Sciences, and colleagues tested a common view presented by media producers that children like to watch violent programming.

"Violence isn't the attractive component in these cartoons, which producers seem to think it is. It's more other things that are often associated with the violence. It's possible to have those other components, such as action specifically, in non-violent ways," Weaver said in an interview. "I think we should be concerned about violent content in cartoons in terms of the potential effect. This is one way that we can get around that from a producer's point of view.

"You don't have to cram violence into these cartoons to get kids to like them. They'll like them without the violence, just as much if not more," he said.

Violent cartoons have been a staple of Saturday morning programming for decades and now are readily available on cable television channels specializing in children's shows and cartoons. Many classic cartoons, such as those in the "Looney Tunes" series, have featured slapstick violence. But in recent years, action programs such as "Pokemon" and "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers" have drawn much attention both because of their violent content and their popularity with young people.

Some content analyses have found that as many as 70 percent of children's television shows have violent content.

"For many producers and media critics, the question is not if children love violence, but rather why children love violence," Weaver and his co-authors wrote in the paper. "Our goal in this study was to examine children's liking of violent content while independently manipulating the amount of action, which is often confounded with violence in the existing research."

Co-authors include Jakob Jensen of Purdue University, Nicole Martins of IU, Ryan Hurley of North Carolina State University and Barbara Wilson of the University of Illinois.

The researchers used a sample group of 128 school children, ranging in age from five to 11 and from kindergarten to the fourth grade. There were a nearly equal number of boys and girls.

Research assistants showed each child one of four versions of a five-minute animated short created for the study and then led them through a questionnaire. The short was designed to resemble familiar slapstick cartoons. Four different versions of the cartoon were used. Six violent scenes were added to one version, which was carried out by both characters and in response to earlier aggression. Nine action scenes were added to another version. Two other versions had lower amounts of action or violence.

What they found was violent content had an indirect negative effect on whether boys enjoyed a program, due to how they identified with the characters.

"That was a little surprising," said Weaver, the father of two young sons. "There is a lot of talk about boys being more violent and more aggressive, for whatever reason, social or biological, and yet we found that they identified with the characters more when they were non-violent . . . They liked the characters more and they enjoyed the overall cartoon more.

"This is good news. If producers are willing to work on making cartoons that aren't violent so much as action packed, they can still capture their target audience better . . . and without the harmful consequences."

On the other hand, among girls violence did not decrease wishful identification of the characters. Weaver believes this may be because such slapstick cartoons are geared more toward boys than girls. Also, girls perceived the characters as boys, even though they were created without sexual attributes.

"They're not going to identify with what they perceive to be male characters, whether they are violent or not," he said. "They didn't prefer the more violent programming. They were just using other cues besides the character's violent or non-violent behavior to determine how much they enjoyed the show."

Weaver would like to apply his research to characters in more female-oriented programs, like "The Powerpuff Girls." He also recognizes that violence is seen by producers as an easy means to introduce action and conflict into a story.

"Alternatives could be things related to speed — characters going fast, moving quickly. It was one way that we manipulated action in this study," he said. "If you can increase action without increasing violence, which clearly is possible as we did it in this study, then you can increase the enjoyment without potential harmful effects that violence can bring.

The cartoon the researchers used, "Picture Perfect Thief," featured a villain called Eggle, who attempted to steal a painting created by a hero called Orangehead. Eggle ultimately fails and the hero's painting wins first place in an art show. It was created by a friend using Macromedia Flash.

###

An electronic copy of the paper is available from George Vlahakis at 812-855-0846 or gvlahaki@indiana.edu. Video of the cartoon created for the study is available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AU1-yL84bl4.

A Practical Way To Help Your Child Succeed

Winning is overrated. The only time it is really important is in surgery and war. ~Al McGuire

We all want our kids to be successful. And we are willing to do just about anything to make that happen. Here is a way to help your child succeed that is a lot of fun. Simply put, get them involved in sports.

It is amazing how many researchers have studied the effect of sports on academic achievement and how almost each and every study found the same thing – kids who are involved in sports are more successful.

There are a few different reasons given for this in the articles. One interesting reason given is that it helps kids learn how to deal with failure and overcome it. We all know people who once they fail keep “stewing” in the bad feelings and have a hard time moving on. This is obviously not productive or helpful and it will only keep the person from movong forward.

When we teach our kids to deal with failures, they will learn how to overcome them and move forward. Obviously, sports is a great way to do this because the only lasting effects of winning or losing is the mental and emotional strength that it will build.

I love the quote by Michael Jordan that goes, “I've failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed.”

Another advantage of taking part in sports is that it teaches kids how to deal with others. Unfortunately, much of what happens in school is done all alone. Schools and teachers have been talking about cooperative learning for the last 20 years, but most of what happens, day to day in the classroom involves each student working individually.

There is certainly value in learning to work alone. But most of our lives we are interacting with other people. This skill is not taught in many classrooms. It is taught on every sports team. And, yes, here I am talking about team sports rather than tennis or karate.

Which brings me to my final point this is, our kids should play on teams. If you child loves tennis, then help him or her to excel at tennis. But there is also a value to playing in the little league or on the school basketball team. This will help your child to build the skills needed to work with others.

The benefits found of kids playing sports are greater academic achievement, including better grades, improved chances of attending college, and success in the labor market.

Of course, kids who play sports will also have a lower risk of child obesity which is rampant in the world today. People who play sports as kids are more likely continue as adults and stay healthier and slimmer as adults as well.

And one of the best reasons to have your child participate in sports is that it will give you a chance to have quality time with the kids. You will see your child in a whole new light and it will give you something to bond over.

So, as Nike says, “Just Do It!”

Feel free to use this article on your website or ezine. If you do, include the following bio. If you would like to print and distribute this article, click here.

Shaya Kass, PhD is a parenting coach.

Visit now for a free report on The 7 Key Steps to Being A Positive Parent.

Shaya can be reached at DrShaya@PositiveParentPlus.com

Practical Ways To Make Every Day Mother’s Day

Last weekend, families in the United States celebrated Mother's Day. I actually just learned that some 70 countries celebrate Mother's Day on the second weekend of May. Of course, in those families that forgot to get a present, the refrain is, “Every day is Mother's Day!” And every mother would like to believe that every day is Mother's Day. So how can we do that? What would that look like?

One of the classic Mother's Day activities is breakfast in bed. The point of breakfast in bed is having your kids serve you rather than the usual of you serving them. It also shows the kids a way to help Mom.

What would this look like on an everyday basis? It might mean that the kids help with serving meals. Or when the kids get up to get a glass of water, offering to bring one for you. If you want your kids to help serve meals, one way to get that to happen is to make a request. How many Mom's complain that the kids never help, yet never ask the kids to help?!? You might even say that Mom's should “train” their kids to help. Even 2 year-olds can help set the table and serve meals. Obviously I would never ask them to carry a tray of hot meat with gravy, but they can certainly carry salad in a plastic bowl!

When your kids help prepare and serve meals you are not only taking some of the burden off of yourself, you are also helping your kids learn responsibility and you are helping your kids learn a family food culture. This may help them to avoid fast food and a diet of prepared foods in the future.

Mother's day is also a day for Moms to enjoy their kids. On Mother's Day, Moms try to ignore any shortcomings and be happy with the presents, the drawings and the nursery school art projects that are a part of Mother's Day. You can enjoy your kids every day and you can choose to not get upset about their shortcomings every day. One way to do this is every day, to say, “Jill, thank you for making me so happy today when you helped your brother with his homework.” “Johnny, thank you for being such a helper today when you made sandwiches for your sisters.”

This will “train” your child to be helpful and will also train them to show gratitude to people who help them. Talk about killing two birds with one stone!

Finally, Mother's day is about celebrating Mom. And Mom should be celebrated every day. Everyday Mom should have some special time for herself. Everyday Mom should be acknowledged for the great works that she does. And everyday, everyone in the family should say “Thank You” to Mom.

So Moms. Everyday you should celebrate yourself and you should celebrate the wonderful children that you have. Everyday you should have some special time for yourself and you should help each of your kids have some special time for themselves.

So, yes, you can make every day Mother's Day. It will be a great learning experience for your kids and it will be great for you. Win-Win! And then your kids will make every day Mother's Day in their homes as well!

Feel free to use this article on your website or ezine. If you do, include the following bio. If you would like to print and distribute this article, click here.

Shaya Kass, PhD is a parenting coach.

Visit now for a free report on The 7 Key Steps to Being A Positive Parent.

Shaya can be reached at DrShaya@PositiveParentPlus.com

Photo compliments of Vera Kratochvil & www.PublicDomainPictures.com

Why We Should Teach Our Kids To Be Kind

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. ~Plato

I just read a fascinating article about some research about being kind. I had never really thought of it, but the authors make a good point that kindness is the “other side of the coin” of gratitude.

In their words, they said “Whereas gratitude results when people receive kindness from other people, kindness entails enacting kind behavior toward other people.” Having said this, it is no surprise that kindness makes people happy since we already know that gratitude makes people happier.

And being kind will make your child feel good. There is actually a release of endorphins in your body when you are kind. Endorphins are similar to morphine. You actually feel good when you are kind. I wonder if our kids can become addicted to being kind? What a great addiction that would be! And you sure wouldn't need any anti-depressants with that kind of addiction!

The researchers measured kindness in a few different ways. One way was to ask the participants how often they thought others were kind to them, how often they were motivated to be kind to others and how often they actually were kind to others. I think that first question is probably the step before gratitude. Once we recognize that someone has been kind to us, we can be grateful for it.

The researchers also gave the participants a happiness measure. Not surprisingly, those people who were happier were kinder. Or is it that those people who were kinder were happier?

Either way, we can learn an important lesson. There is a connection between kindness and happiness. So as with most other areas of happiness, we get to “kill two birds with one stone!” Those things that bring happiness are generally good things to do like being grateful, being kind and being self-compassionate.

Kindness can be toward friends or strangers. We can help our kids be kind to family members and teachers. Kindness toward any of these will help make us happy.

Happy people scored high in all three areas of happiness. They wanted to be kind, they recognized kindness more than unhappy people and they have more kind behaviors.

So what are some ideas for kind acts? How about a smile? Let's teach our kids to give passersby a smile. And we can give store-clerks a smile. Our kids can even smile to the driver in the car next to us. Or perhaps we can do a simple loving-kindness mediation which I have written about previously.

Even a small act like this can help your child to have a better day and make them happier. This happiness can spread throughout your family and improve all the relationships and interactions. How great would that be!

Feel free to use this article on your website or ezine. If you do, include the following bio. If you would like to print and distribute this article, click here.

Shaya Kass, PhD is a parenting coach.

Visit now for a free report on The 7 Key Steps to Being A Positive Parent.

Shaya can be reached at DrShaya@PositiveParentPlus.com

3-year longitudinal study involves 200 middle school teachers and 20 H.I.S.D. schools

Recent Posts