Value of the Month
This month's value is:
Being kind and thoughtful means making ourselves aware of the needs and feelings of others and then taking action to help them. It means taking the time to stop thinking about ourselves, to put the spotlight on somebody else's needs and to think, "What can I do to make that person's life a little better or easier?"
Any time of the year is a perfect opportunity to show how thoughtful we can all be - the skill is to ensure we do it every moment of every day.
Dr Neil Hawkes - the founder of Values based Education which we follow stated:
"What can we do? May I suggest a useful tool that can help us become more thoughtful? It is called the wisdom cycle. Just before speaking or taking an action train your mind to: pause — reflect — act. By pausing for a few seconds your brain is given time to reflect on the consequences of your proposed action. Is this a wise thing to do? Will I hurt someone’s feelings by saying this? The process, which takes hardly any time, can literally be a lifesaver."
Previous Values include:
Empathy is:
- Thinking about how people are feeling.
- Considering the feelings of other before you act/react.
- Putting yourself in someone else's shoes and consider how they are feeling and thinking.
- Is being aware of how we might impact the feelings of others.
Actions that show this value:
• Looking at someone and using their body language to realise they are upset or not enjoying what is happening. • Stopping before we say something hurtful to somebody.
• Offering to help someone with a big or difficult task like tidying up the dining hall or carrying lots of books.
• Asking someone if they are ok if they seem different, worried or upset.
• Being compassionate towards others.
• Helping people when they are sad
Actions that don’t show this value:
• Saying hurtful and personal comments about someone.
• Hurting someone physically
• Leaving someone out.
• Not sharing.
• Not offering to help someone when you can see they are busy or finding something hard work.
• Not listening to someone because you think they are less important.
• Not showing compassion.
• Judging people based on their emotions
What does empathy look like?
People who show empathy:
• Think about the feelings other people might be feeling
• Think about what people might might think and feel because of our actions
• Show kindness to everyone People who show empathy realise:
• That everyone has feelings, including adults
• That we can make people feel better and worse
• That everyone deserves kindness
People show empathy by:
- Listening to each other calmly and fairly
- Speaking to each other nicely and in a positive way so not to hurt feelings
- Ask if others are ok
- Being helpful and kind
- Treating others like they themselves would like to be treated.