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Kind things you can do in five minutes
Nobody needs a free afternoon to be kind. These take about as long as waiting for a kettle, and most of them happen in the gaps of a day you were having anyway. If you have been meaning to do something and keep not getting to it, start here.
Showing 31–60 of 197 ideas
Learn the names of your child's friends
Knowing who is who turns 'how was school' into a conversation that can actually go somewhere.
5 minutesFreeA friend1 person did this
Not rated yet
Buy the thing they would never buy themselves
People under financial pressure cut the small pleasures first, and those are the ones that hold a life together.
5 minutesMore than $10A friend
Not rated yet
Let a child overhear you praising them
Praise reported to a third party is believed in a way that praise delivered directly is not.
5 minutesFreeA friend
Not rated yet
Tell a freelancer what the going rate is
People new to freelancing price from fear. One honest number from someone established resets it permanently.
5 minutesFreeA friend
Not rated yet
Pay the small invoice the day it arrives
Late payment is the main reason small suppliers fail. Paying on receipt costs you nothing and can matter enormously.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
Not rated yet
Never park across a dropped curb
A car over a dropped curb can strand a wheelchair user on the wrong side of a road with no other crossing.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
Not rated yet
Look, the tenth time they ask
A child asking you to watch the same trick again is asking whether they are still interesting to you.
5 minutesFreeA friend
Not rated yet
Know when their important days are
Everyone knows when Christmas is. Far fewer know when Eid, Diwali or Rosh Hashanah fall, or acknowledge them.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
Not rated yet
Explain the rule nobody writes down
Every workplace, school and country runs on conventions that insiders cannot see and newcomers cannot guess.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
Not rated yet
Apologize to a child properly
Adults rarely apologize downwards, and a child who is never apologized to learns that power decides who was wrong.
5 minutesFreeA friend
Not rated yet
Ignore the assistance dog
A working dog that gets distracted can miss a seizure warning or walk its handler into traffic.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
Not rated yet
Offer to put it in writing
Spoken instructions vanish. For anyone with hearing loss, dyslexia or brain fog they may not have landed at all.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
Not rated yet
Warn someone what the phrase actually means
'We should do this again sometime' means different things in different places, and getting it wrong is painful.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
Not rated yet
Answer a child as if they could understand
Children ask real questions and get deflections. A serious answer is memorable precisely because it is so unusual.
5 minutesFreeA friend
Not rated yet
Say what you are pointing at
'It's over there' is useless to someone who cannot see you gesturing. Words cost nothing extra.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
Not rated yet
Put the real details in the invitation
How long, how far to walk, whether there is seating. Missing details mean somebody has to ring and ask.
5 minutesFreeA friend
Not rated yet
Buy the work rather than praising it
Artists, writers and makers get a great deal of encouragement and very little income. One is a great deal more useful.
5 minutesMore than $10A friend
Not rated yet
Ask before you help, then do what they say
Grabbing a wheelchair or an arm without asking is both dangerous and startlingly common.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
Not rated yet
Move your bin off the pavement
Bins, bikes and parked cars narrow pavements to the point where a wheelchair has to go into the road.
5 minutesFreeA neighbor
Not rated yet
Say keep the change before they count it
A small overpayment is worth more as a decision you announce than as coins you leave behind.
5 minutesUnder $10A stranger
Not rated yet
Tell a young person about your own failure
Young people assume competent adults were always competent, which makes their own struggle feel disqualifying.
5 minutesFreeA friend
Not rated yet
Quietly pay for a child's kit
The boots, the instrument, the trip. Children drop out of things because of cost, and nobody is told why.
5 minutesMore than $10A neighbor
Not rated yet
Move your trolley out of the aisle
A blocked aisle is an inconvenience to most people and an impassable wall to a wheelchair or a scooter.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
Not rated yet
Write down the thing a child said
Every parent believes they will remember. Almost none do, and the exact words are what disappear first.
5 minutesFreeA friend
Not rated yet
Tell a teacher what they did for your child
Teachers hear from parents almost exclusively about problems. Specific praise is rare enough to be kept for years.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
Not rated yet
Find a chair before anyone asks
Standing is the hidden barrier at parties, queues and exhibitions, and asking for a seat means explaining why.
5 minutesFreeA friend
Not rated yet
Praise the effort where the result was bad
A young person who worked hard and failed will be told the result was disappointing by everyone else.
5 minutesFreeA friend1 person did this
Not rated yet
Help with the deposit, not the rent
A one-off lump unlocks a situation. Ongoing help postpones one, and is far harder to stop.
5 minutesMore than $10A friend
Not rated yet
Turn the one-off donation into a standing order
Charities can plan against regular income and cannot plan against appeals. Five pounds monthly beats sixty at Christmas.
5 minutesMore than $10An organization
Not rated yet
Hand over your good tradesperson
The reliable plumber, the honest garage, the dentist taking patients. Newcomers pay a premium for not knowing.
5 minutesFreeA neighbor
Not rated yet