How to Encourage Your Kids to Be Kind With Kindness Lunchbox Notes

Inside: Encourage and help your kids remember to be kind at school with these kindness lunchbox notes for kids.

---

Every morning as my kids pile out of my car and we say our goodbyes and our “I love yous,” I remind them to be kind.

I remind them to be kind to their friends. To be kind to kids who aren’t their friends. And to include kids to join in their play at recess.

And then when my kids pile back in my car a few hours later, we debrief.

We talk about math tests and homework and art class.

But we also talk about who they played with, who they invited to join them, and who they were kind to.

I can remind them to be kind before school and I can ask them if they were kind after school.

But what I can’t do is encourage them or remind them to be kind during school.

So I needed a way to gently let them know that even if I wasn’t there to say it, I wanted them to be kind at school.

Because raising kind kids isn’t a one-time thing. We can’t simply tell our kids to be kind and think that’ll be enough.

Raising kind kids takes repetitive, consistent, and constant modeling, practice, and encouragement.

Related: How to Raise Kind Kids

So we found a way to help our kids remember to be kind during school hours with these kindness lunchbox notes.

Why We Use Kindness Lunchbox Notes

When we pack our kids lunches, or when they pack their own lunches, we love sticking in little notes they can find.

It’s a little piece of home our kids get mid-day. 

We sometimes add these corny jokes or write “good luck on your test “messages for them on these Black Magic Note Cards.

And other days we stick in kindness reminders.

Some of the kindness notes are funny…

Some notes ask them to do something for a friend, a classmate, or a teacher. 

And others just remind our kids how proud we are of them.

Because we want our kids to know unequivocally that they are kind kids with kind hearts. They just need to remember to show it.

They need to remember to include a classmate, share a crayon color, and pick up the stack of papers that fell over without being asked.

Related: Is Your Kid an Includer? Here’s Why They Should Be

So little notes in our kids’ lunches help them remember to act with kindness. And be a good friend. And stand up for those who need an ally.

How to Use Kindness Lunch box Notes

1. Purchase and download these kindness notes.

2. Print the lunchbox notes on cardstock paper.

3. Cut them out and put them somewhere you’ll remember to use them. 

4. Pop them into your kids’ lunches every once in a while.

5. Continue to discuss kindness with your kids daily and read kindness books to encourage your kids to be kind.

To help start the conversation about kindness and what it means to be a good friend, you can use these 60 Kindness Discussion Starters.

Purchase and download Kindness Lunchbox Notes here and start sending them in your kids’ school lunches. And your message will be with them even if when you can’t be.

---