How Can We Feel Kindness?

Friends listen to a story about kindness and how we can show kindness to others… Yoyo, Elie and Brooks answer the question that what does kindness mean? Friends already have things in their minds regarding kindness. As Elie mentions, "We can show kindness by not hitting others". Brooks says, “Don’t hurt anybody”. However, Yoyo takes it the way of showing love by, "Hugs and kisses". Also Yoyo relates the kindness with nature. He mentions, “By taking care of flowers”.

Moreover, Yoyo again connects this theory of kindness and caring to nature as he adds, "How we can clean our environment and showing kindness to the environment by putting garbage into the bin".

Brooks interprets kindness by sharing, "I want to give hugs for my friends".

Friends continue to think about kindness and respect. Luna and Elie exhibit kindness by hugging each other.

According to Elie, Valentine’s Day means, "Loving each other and hugging each other and also having treats". Every friend has his or her own definition of kindness and also for Valentine day. However it all means caring, loving and respecting each other.

There are so many different interpretations of Valentine's Day to us. Each one of us is entitled for different emotion, expression, and language about what love is all about. 

Felix, Luna, and Elie revisit a scientific experiment outdoor by mixing baking soda, vinegar, and food coloring. However, this time round we extend 'colorful juicy drinks' to the birds who happily chirp by the tree branches. Through this experience, kindness takes another form - sharing our creative ideas and experiments.

Comprehending love from a different perspective is one of the many objectives we work together with friends. We refer to a storybook written by Matt De la Pena about beautiful messages Nana (grandmother) shares with her grandson, CJ. The piece that moves Children &n Friends the most for Last Stop on Market Street is a conversation between CJ when he is on a bus with Nana.

A man climbed aboard with a spotted dog.
CJ gave up his seat. “How come that man can’t see?”
“Boy, what do you know about seeing?” Nana told him. “Some people watch the world with their ears.”
“That’s a fact. Their noses, too,” the man said, sniffing at the air…
Nana squeezed the man’s hand and laughed her deep laugh.

The above snippet intrigues our interests and further provokes us with below questions -

• How do we see with our ears?
  
• How do we see with our noses?
  

Our five senses–sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell–seem to operate independently, as five distinct ways of perceiving the world.

In reality, however, they collaborate closely to enable our mind to better understand our surroundings. We attempt to become aware of this collaboration through some experiences. With our eyes being closed we place cinnamon sticks closely to our nose to experience what kind of situations our sense of smell can inform us. 

To further nurture ourselves on possible relationships between our sense of hearing guiding our sense of sights, we explore diverse learning experiences. We attempt to differentiate the sights we see and the sounds we hear. 

To train our sense of hearing, this time round we engage luminous sticks to aid us coordinate our movements in the dark. Study informs us that our sense of smell, taste, and vision all involve chemical reactions, but our hearing system is based solely on physical movement. This learning experience results in us being able to be aware of each other's presence as well as becoming more creative with our storytelling interests. It is interesting to see the journey of kindness through more and more stories of us!

Kindest,
Children & Friends.