The one lesson I’ve learned from life

Kate Garraway

KATE GARRAWAY, 49, is a presenter on ItV Breakfast and also has a mid-morning show on smooth Radio. Married to political advisor-turned psycho therapist Derek Draper, they live in North London with their two children, Darcey, 11, and Billy, seven.

KINDNESS WILL GET YOU EVERYWHERE

i’LL never forget my mother, Marylyn, telling me that there is a magical power in kindness. i must have been around seven. There seemed to be a feeling back then — less so these days, i think — that kindness was somehow a weakness. But Mum wouldn’t have any of that.

obviously, it’s nice if someone is kind to you, she’d say, but it’s also great to show kindness. she was very good at trying to explain why anyone had been unkind to me.

sometimes, if people are being nasty, she’d say, it’s because they are feeling scared or worried. Being kind to them is a great way of taking the sting out of their aggression.

and she was right. There is an energy in kindness. Years later, it’s something i try to impress on my own kids. we took Darcey and Billy to see my parents in oxford last week and we had just been round one of the colleges when a man came up asking for any spare change.

i hesitated, then reached into my purse and gave him some coins. in that moment i’d had the thought that this man was another mother’s son. he had obviously fallen on hard times. suppose that was Billy years from now — wouldn’t i want someone to show him kindness?

nor do i think i’m alone in any of this. we ran a survey on my radio programme on valentine’s Day, asking listeners which two characteristics they most looked for in a partner.

To my delight, a sense of humour came second to kindness. Maybe that’s because the world can increasingly feel like a brutal place.

i do try to practise what i preach. My husband is trying to shed a few pounds. Yesterday evening i told him i’d been given some amazing chocolates as a gift, but that i’d deliberately scoffed the lot before he got home because i knew they would have been too tempting for him.

now, that was kind, wasn’t it?

Kate GaRRaWaY’s Kite & Cosmic clothing collection supporting I CaN is now available at mandco.com.