Some kids seem to be hard-wired for empathy, but how do we reach those who aren't? No parent sets out to raise a cruel child, but in order teach kids to be kind, it’s critical to start when they're young and can most easily absorb fundamental lessons. The stakes get higher as they age. While there's no easy program to follow, parents and educators several critical steps to help stack the deck in favor of raising a child who demonstrates kindness and compassion. Read more here . . .

"The smallest act of compassion can inspire the greatest movement of healing. Everyone matters and everyone deserves self-acceptance, love, and belonging. Your particular problems aren’t the same as mine. And my problems aren’t the same as my neighbors. But we all struggle with a lot of the same heartaches. Most of us have been treated unjustly at some point in our lives. We’ve felt like we didn’t fit in, and maybe like the world was against us. We’ve felt afraid of being judged and rejected. We’ve felt like we’re not enough (smart enough, thin enough, funny enough, young enough, rich enough, etc). We’ve lost loved ones. We’ve had to make hard choices and do things we didn’t feel competent or ready to do. You know what? We’re all in this together. We can choose to help each up or we can choose to push each other away." Read more here ...

There are many qualities, behaviors, and characteristics that men are disparaged for because they defy gender norms and stereotypes. These criticisms can encourage men to hide their emotions, avoid close relationships, suppress their interests, and refrain from seeking help. Traits, preferences, and mannerisms shouldn't have any bearing on how someone's gender is classified or how someone's value is determined, but, unfortunately, they can often have adverse repercussions for men. Read more here ...

"It's not about the braid or the bun. It's all about fathers and daughters spending quality time together." Find out how one single father is teaching other single fathers about a great way to bond with their daughters. Read more here ...

True compassion requires backbone and courage. While it might be convenient to be soft and flexible and bend under the guise of kindness, you’re not, in fact, being kind; you’re taking the easy way out. "True compassion requires pointing out what’s wrong. If compassion is defined as the wish to relieve people of their suffering, then we have a responsibility to correct what’s wrong." Read more here ...

"Showing kindness and compassion toward others, even when we feel they don’t deserve it, could turn out to be healing for that person as well as for ourselves. We might just find that during the times we need compassion and kindness, it is returned to us, maybe even from the person or persons we extended it to when they needed it most." Read more here ...

What if instead of adapting to a bad situation, we transformed it? What if, rather than accepting or accommodating ourselves to what is “wrong,” we put our efforts in creating new ‘rights’? Is it possible to create global compassionate communities? Read more here ...

"The second you assume something about anyone, you’re wrong. Even when you feel like you’re not assuming anything, you’re still wrong.  There are some people who identify as homeless who do not want what we think they want. Too often, we indulge in the idea of giving homeless people the things that make us contented. Too often we decide that they need all of the things we need." Read more here ...