Century 21 Atwood shares the #RELENTLESS story of Barb Bratvold of Ashby, MN.
“Teaching giving and kindness can change a child’s life, and change the lives of people receiving kindness cards or heart prints. If I could be remembered for one thing, I’d like it to be intentional kindness. That would be my legacy.”
Being kind, while it just sounds so simple, can often be forgotten in our everyday lives, due to stress, circumstances, reactions. It has to be a practice, a mindset. Teaching our kids to be kind and have this mindset can be difficult given what they face in school and life at an early age. The relentless Barb Bratvold, a teacher of 44 years, saw an opportunity early on in her career to help kids practice being kind through inclusion and actions. And that was when The Kindness Club began.
Teachers have a BIG job. You probably remember that one teacher that really had an impact on your life, right? In 1995, at Evansville Public School, one teacher saw an opportunity. Daily observations of how kids were treating each other, talking to each other, reacting to stress, inspired an idea. How could kids be taught that kindness was important, cool, the right way to treat another person and lower their negative reaction impulses? Barb believes kindness can be imitated and knew she could impact in a positive way. So, she started a club that kids could belong to. A club that kids could be cool through being kind. A club that spread kindness. Simply, THE KINDNESS CLUB. The Golden Rule – treat others how we wanted to be treated. Barb felt that “…showing kids how to be kind can make the future a better place”
Though Barb retired from teaching in 2014, The Kindness Club is still going strong, now in three schools: Evansville, Brandon, and Ashby. Some of the ways she teaches kindness? Cards for kindness, character lessons, heart printing, deliberate acts of kindness, gentle reminders each time they meet. “Like toothpaste, once our words come out, we can’t get them back”. Barb volunteers her time to The Kindness Club because it is her passion, it makes a difference, and she believes it is important to keep alive for the kids. Teachers at those schools also help so that teaching kindness can grow. Supporting community needs, soldier care packages – the club has sent over 77,000 kindness cards that have reached every continent! “Always filling someone else’s bucket” is a strong principle she teaches!
It is proven, Barb says, “Teaching giving and kindness can change a child’s life, and change the lives of people receiving kindness cards or heart prints. If I could be remembered for one thing, I’d like it to be intentional kindness. That would be my legacy.”
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