Kinder children are more popular

[dipsydoodle]

Performing deliberate acts of kindness makes pre-teen children more popular with their peers, say scientists.

A team led by researchers at the University of California, Riverside, "assigned" children three acts of kindness each week for four weeks.

After the four weeks, children were happier and more liked by classmates.

The researchers say than encouraging such simple "positive acts" could help children to get along with classmates and even prevent instances of bullying.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20851434

Research Article here : Kindness Counts: Prompting Prosocial Behavior in Preadolescents Boosts Peer Acceptance and Well-Being http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0051380

[Quantess]

1. Certainly good news!

[Fumesucker]

2. I've been thinking about this since it was posted a few days ago

It almost seems like victim blaming when it says that bullying could be prevented if the victims were only kinder to the bullies.

[Quantess]

3. Think about it this way...

bullies are not always popular, and many popular kids are not bullies.

This article highlights just one aspect of childhood interactions. I don't think they are implying anything regarding the victim's behavior.

[Fumesucker]

4. That's not the way I took this sentence.

The researchers say than encouraging such simple "positive acts" could help children to get along with classmates and even prevent instances of bullying.

Two grades ahead and small for my age I got bullied a lot, I tried volunteering my lunch money instead of getting beaten up, they took it and then beat me anyway.

The only thing that ever kept the bullies away from me was convincing them I was nuts and it was more trouble to fuck with me than it was worth. Bullies zero in on kids they think won't fight back, being kind to them will only lead them to think you are even weaker than you actually are and encourage bullying.

Being kind may or may not make kids more "popular" but the researchers pulled that bit about stopping bullying straight out of their nether regions.

[bitchkitty]

5. They don't go into much detail in the article,

but I think they mean that children who are encouraged to perform kind acts are less likely to be bullies. They do talk about how it completely changed classroom dynamics - often a bully's strength comes from his audience. Maybe it's something to do with that. Wish they were clearer.