Compassion is a Character trait that we should model and practice daily with our students and our own children. Compassion so important to support a positive mindset and empathy.
A person who shows compassion has concern for others; is warm and kind and treats others as one would want to be treated ...remember ...."The Golden Rule?"
I remember when I was a tall elementary student. I am 6 feet now and definitely looked like a third grader in first grade...In fact the hall monitors, on my first day of school, tried to send me to the third grade hall... I kept telling them I was in first grade...but they did not believe me!
The kids called me "The Jolly Green Giant;" asked me 'How is the weather up there?" ANNND there was, "Here comes the leaning Tower of Pisa!" Compassionate? No...hurtful? YES! Did I survive it? YES!
WHY? Because my parents told me that...those kids just want to be tall like you and remember "sticks and stones will hurt your bones, but names will never hurt you"....ANNNND I believed them!
AND guess what? I showed compassion and kindness to every person I met. Maybe because of my experiences as a child or maybe it was really my family modeling kindness and compassion daily in their actions to others.
Those stories are life lessons I will never forget.
So...when I was asked to review the book: A New Alphabet for Humanity written by Leesa McGregor and illustrated by Daniela Sosa, I knew just from the title I would love it. In fact I thought, this is exactly what our world needs right now... this second.
I can easily say it is a great book and it is! But it is more that a great book...it inspires all of us to think about how to treat ourselves and others.
Each letter of the alphabet stands for a word that exemplifies positive character traits and teaches children new words that are important to be your best self and to support others in the journey!
Each page demonstrates an example of the focus word in action...words and actions that young children can and will identify with as they go through the alphabet!
The words selected give kid friendly definitions that will stick with them and colorful illustrations that they can easily visualize.
Here is a little sampling of this book:
So, as the title of this blog post suggests, A New Alphabet for Humanity shows us 26 ways from A-Z (Abundance to Zen) to inspire our children (and all of us ) to be compassionate, kind and loving! Let's empower our children to exhibit and communicate all 26 positive character traits today and everyday!
This is book should be in every home, classroom and library!
