Saturday, February 20, 2016

Are Kindness and Confidence related?


I think Children who have gained confidence in their abilities through consistent work and discipline tend to be kinder to others. Toru Kumon said it best, 26 years ago: 

Toru Kumon, founder of the Kumon Method
“From my experience of continuously observing children, those up to third grade are quite egotistical. However, once they learn beyond their school grade level, and advance two and three years ahead, they do not remain egotistical anymore but become kinder to others. Of course I cannot say it is true one hundred percent of the time, but I can say more than fifty percent of such children do become kinder to others. Why does this happen? I believe it is because they gain self-confidence and extra capacity. Once children develop self-confidence and extra capacity, they become capable of succeeding at something on their own. For those who do not have the ability to achieve something on their own, I believe it will be more difficult for them to be kind to others.” 

Let's continue working with our children daily on their basic skills. Personally, it's a joy to know from experience that the benefits are not just better grades and academic success, but also children who are kinder to one another.

With "kind" :-) regards,


Mauricio Maruri

Kumon of Norman
http://www.kumon.com/how-kumon-works