Dignity Health survey reveals adults see children as leaders in kindness
SAN FRANCISCO — Dignity Health, one of the largest health systems in the nation, polled Americans on the power kindness has in fostering connections and discovered they often look to children for kindness inspiration. The survey was conducted in conjunction with Dignity Health’s participation in the Great Kindness Challenge, Jan. 22-26, to inspire a culture of kindness when people need it most.
The survey of 1,001 American adults found that 74 percent of people feel that adults could learn a lot about kindness by watching how children interact with the world. It also revealed that half of respondents admit they were actively more kind to others when they were a child.
Showing kindness to ourselves and to others is important for one’s physical and mental health. It’s also important for relationships, helping to create stronger human connections. A majority (83 percent) of people admit they could have been more kind even to their significant other in the past month.
“These results reveal an interesting truth about our world and suggest that as we age, we may lose some of the inherent kindness we have as children,” said Pamela Davis, M.D., residency director for the Dignity Health Family Medicine Residency at Northridge Hospital. “We can learn a lot from kids on how to treat others with the same compassion and consideration we would want for ourselves. By their example, we can see how kindness creates powerful connections with those around us.”
Dignity Health and its more than 63,000 employees are participating alongside 20 million students across the world in the Great Kindness Challenge, which challenges individuals to complete a checklist of 50 acts of kindness in one week.
Dignity Health illustrated this movement and specifically the “create your own kind deed” item on the checklist by following fifth grade students as they performed their own surprise acts of kindness for friends and family members, captured in a video series shared at hellohumankindness.org/ greatkindnesschallenge.