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Kind things to do with kids

Concrete enough for a child to understand what happened and why it mattered, which is most of what makes it stick. Nothing here needs a craft supply run or a Pinterest board.

Showing 1–30 of 67 ideas

• Read the book your teenager is reading

  It gives you a subject that is not school, not their friends and not anything they have to defend.

  OngoingUnder $10A friend

• Buy two and leave one

  Suspended coffees, paid-forward meals and school-fund top-ups exist. Most people have never noticed the option.

  5 minutesUnder $10A stranger

• Buy from the list rather than guessing

  Food banks and shelters publish exactly what they are short of. Donations that ignore it create sorting work.

  Half an hourUnder $10A stranger

• Give the good version away, not the worn-out one

  Charity shops and refuges throw away an enormous amount of what is donated because it was not really a gift.

  Half an hourFreeA stranger

• Offer to take another child as well

  You are already doing the trip. One more in the car is the cheapest help a parent can give another parent.

  Half an hourFreeA neighbor1 person did this

• Let a child finish the sentence

  Adults complete children's sentences constantly, and the child learns that their version was not worth waiting for.

  5 minutesFreeA friend1 person did this

• Go to the thing even though it is dull

  The assembly, the match, the recital. Children scan the audience, and they are counting.

  An afternoonFreeA friend

• 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 friend

• 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

• Go to the celebration that is not yours

  Turning up to somebody else's festival, service or national day is a bigger gesture than it costs you.

  An afternoonFreeA neighbor

• 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

• Teach a child something genuinely useful

  Changing a tire, wiring a plug, making one good meal. Competence is a form of confidence that lasts.

  An afternoonUnder $10A friend

• 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

• Ignore the assistance dog

  A working dog that gets distracted can miss a seizure warning or walk its handler into traffic.

  5 minutesFreeA stranger

• 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

• Let a child help badly

  Doing it yourself is faster every single time, and the accumulated effect of that is a teenager who cannot cook.

  Half an hourFreeA friend

• Be a reliable adult for a child who is not yours

  Every resilient childhood account includes at least one adult outside the family who was consistently there.

  OngoingFreeA neighbor

• Be in the same room doing nothing

  Children disclose things sideways, during dull shared time, not when asked directly how they are.

  Half an hourFreeA friend

• Be the house where the friends come

  Teenagers need somewhere that is not a bedroom and not a street. Somebody's kitchen is the whole infrastructure.

  OngoingUnder $10A friend

• Learn five signs and use them

  Hello, thank you, sorry, please, your name. Five signs is enough to change an encounter completely.

  Half an hourFreeA stranger

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• Leave credit on the machine behind you

  A parking meter, a laundry card, a photo booth. The next person gets a small unearned piece of luck.

  5 minutesFreeA stranger

• Talk to the child who is not performing

  At any family gathering one child holds the room and another is under the table with a book.

  5 minutesFreeA friend

• Pay a bit more at the place that employs people

  The difference between the independent and the chain is usually small per item and decisive per year.

  Half an hourUnder $10A stranger

• Scan the box of photographs

  Boxes of prints are one house fire or one house clearance from being gone. Scanning them takes an afternoon.

  An afternoonFreeA friend

• Hand in the thing you found, properly

  A dropped wallet or phone handed to the right place is the difference between a bad afternoon and a ruined month.

  Half an hourFreeA stranger

• Invite the child everyone stops inviting

  Parents of disabled children describe the birthday party invitations drying up as the loneliest part.

  5 minutesFreeA caregiver