{"id":33932,"date":"2013-10-30T07:25:53","date_gmt":"2013-10-30T07:25:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?p=33932"},"modified":"2013-10-30T07:25:53","modified_gmt":"2013-10-30T07:25:53","slug":"acts-kindness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/israel\/acts-kindness\/","title":{"rendered":"Acts of Kindness"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"hand<\/a>We all know that Avraham Avinu was known for his chesed. So it\u00a0is no wonder that Eliezer was looking for a woman for Yitzchok\u00a0who would embody that midah as well. We start off this week\u2019s\u00a0Parsha with the beloved story of Eliezer meeting Rivka and Rivka\u2019s\u00a0incredible act of kindness. Not only did Rivka draw Eliezer a drink\u00a0from the well, but she also supplied 10 of his camels with water.\u00a0Rivka\u2019s act of chesed proved to Eliezer that she was the one for\u00a0Yitzchok.<\/p>\n

Chesed is the hallmark of the Jewish people and we need to make\u00a0sure that we are transmitting this midah to our children.\u00a0Here are 2 simple ways to teach our kids all about chesed:<\/p>\n

1. Be A Giver:<\/strong><\/p>\n

The best way to teach your children anything is not by lecturing\u00a0but by role modeling. That means that you need to strive to be the\u00a0person you would like them to be. (No pressure, kids will forgive\u00a0your imperfections, if you forgive them theirs). If your kids see you\u00a0giving of your time and your energy to the people around you they\u00a0will probably become givers just be osmosis. That will become their\u00a0standard for normal, appropriate behavior.\u00a0You can let them know in a conversational sort of way of the acts of\u00a0giving that you do:\u00a0\u201cI am going to give a call to Mrs. Cohen. Older people who live alone\u00a0can get real lonely sometimes. They can use someone to talk to.\u201d\u00a0\u201cThe Shwartz\u2019s just had a baby. I know they can use some help. I am\u00a0going to make them some dinner.\u201d<\/p>\n

2. Reinforce Giving Behavior:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another great way to teach your children giving behavior is to praise\u00a0kids for the times you see them being a giver. Don\u2019t point out the\u00a0times when they are acting selfish, instead, be on the lookout for any\u00a0little act of kindness, consideration and giving on their part. Point it\u00a0out to them. Try to ignore the times that they are unkind.\u00a0I often point out this parenting phenomena: When we give attention\u00a0to a kid\u2019s negative behavior we inadvertently reinforce their negative\u00a0behavior. When we only focus on their positive behavior we reinforce\u00a0their positive behavior. It takes a while to retrain our brains to look\u00a0for the positive but it is well worth the effort.<\/p>\n

For example:<\/p>\n

\u201cYou shared your Shabbat treat with your brother. That is called\u00a0being considerate.”<\/p>\n

\u201cYou did your sister\u2019s chores because she was not feeling well. That is\u00a0called being kind.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou let Danny borrow your baseball. That is what a giving neighbor\u00a0does.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou held the door open for your grandmother. That was an act of\u00a0chesed and Kibud Av Vaem.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teaching kids kindness does not have to be difficult it can be as\u00a0simple as role modeling and positively reinforcing kind behavior.<\/p>\n

Adina Soclof is the Director of Parent Outreach for A+ Solutions, facilitating “How to Talk so Kids will Listen and Listen so Kids will Talk” workshops as well as workshops based on \u201cSiblings Without Rivalry.\u201d Adina also runs\u00a0ParentingSimply.com<\/a>\u00a0and is available for speaking engagements. You can reach her and check out her website at www.parentingsimply.com<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chesed is the hallmark of the Jewish people and we need to make sure that we are transmitting this midah to our children.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":720,"featured_media":33935,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-israel"],"yoast_head":"\nActs of Kindness - OU Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/israel\/acts-kindness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Acts of Kindness - OU Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Chesed is the hallmark of the Jewish people and we need to make sure that we are transmitting this midah to our children.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/israel\/acts-kindness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"OU Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-10-30T07:25:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/iStock_000025346370XSmall.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"516\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"233\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Adina Soclof\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Adina Soclof\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/israel\/acts-kindness\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/israel\/acts-kindness\/\",\"name\":\"Acts of Kindness - OU Life\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/israel\/acts-kindness\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/israel\/acts-kindness\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/iStock_000025346370XSmall.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-10-30T07:25:53+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/e1d662e1b99b4cb9d5268c1a8111a03a\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/israel\/acts-kindness\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/israel\/acts-kindness\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/iStock_000025346370XSmall.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/iStock_000025346370XSmall.jpg\",\"width\":516,\"height\":233},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/\",\"name\":\"OU Life\",\"description\":\"Everyday Jewish Living\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/e1d662e1b99b4cb9d5268c1a8111a03a\",\"name\":\"Adina Soclof\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Adina-Soclof_avatar-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Adina-Soclof_avatar-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Adina Soclof\"},\"description\":\"Adina Soclof, MS. CCC-SLP is a certified Speech Pathologist. She received her master's degree from Hunter College in New York in Communication Sciences. She works as a Parent Educator for Bellefaire Jewish Children's Bureau facilitating \\\"How to Talk so Kids will Listen and Listen so Kids will Talk\\\" workshops as well as workshops based on \u201cSiblings Without Rivalry.\u201d Adina developed TEAM Communication Ventures and conducts parenting, teacher and clinician workshops via telephone nationwide. Adina lives with her husband and four lively children in Cleveland, Ohio. You can visit her at website at www.parentingsimply.com.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/parentingsimply.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/author\/adinasoclof-me\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Acts of Kindness - OU Life","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/israel\/acts-kindness\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Acts of Kindness - OU Life","og_description":"Chesed is the hallmark of the Jewish people and we need to make sure that we are transmitting this midah to our children.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/israel\/acts-kindness\/","og_site_name":"OU Life","article_published_time":"2013-10-30T07:25:53+00:00","og_image":[{"width":516,"height":233,"url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/iStock_000025346370XSmall.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Adina Soclof","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Adina Soclof","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/israel\/acts-kindness\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/israel\/acts-kindness\/","name":"Acts of Kindness - OU Life","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/israel\/acts-kindness\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/israel\/acts-kindness\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/iStock_000025346370XSmall.jpg","datePublished":"2013-10-30T07:25:53+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/e1d662e1b99b4cb9d5268c1a8111a03a"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/israel\/acts-kindness\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/israel\/acts-kindness\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/iStock_000025346370XSmall.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/iStock_000025346370XSmall.jpg","width":516,"height":233},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/","name":"OU Life","description":"Everyday Jewish Living","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/e1d662e1b99b4cb9d5268c1a8111a03a","name":"Adina Soclof","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Adina-Soclof_avatar-96x96.png","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Adina-Soclof_avatar-96x96.png","caption":"Adina Soclof"},"description":"Adina Soclof, MS. CCC-SLP is a certified Speech Pathologist. She received her master's degree from Hunter College in New York in Communication Sciences. She works as a Parent Educator for Bellefaire Jewish Children's Bureau facilitating \"How to Talk so Kids will Listen and Listen so Kids will Talk\" workshops as well as workshops based on \u201cSiblings Without Rivalry.\u201d Adina developed TEAM Communication Ventures and conducts parenting, teacher and clinician workshops via telephone nationwide. Adina lives with her husband and four lively children in Cleveland, Ohio. You can visit her at website at www.parentingsimply.com.","sameAs":["http:\/\/parentingsimply.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/author\/adinasoclof-me\/"}]}},"acf":[],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/720"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33932\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}