This year’s theme for RSE Day is ‘Let’s Launch into Kindness’ and I believe it is a well-selected theme.
As an RSE educator delivering a range of topics to a range of students from a range of age groups and schools, I feel that kindness is at the heart of healthy relationships and is a key ingredient, as a guide, in making healthy decisions around relationships and sex.
Many young people, and for that matter adults too, are bombarded with messages from the wider media that tell them that they must do what is best for ‘themselves.’ And though this message is in some instances well intended, in some part it has led to some young people approaching relationships with a ‘me first and you second’ frame of mind.
Of course, social media and porn have done much of this distortion of relationships, but now there is also some well-known mainstream media shows that give unrealistic and even unhealthy perceptions of relationships too.
Kindness is about the other person. It tends to be understood as an act or acts that are done for the benefit of others.
To be kind in a relationship could be being considerate of the other person: considering what makes them happy; or, if an action is about to be taken, asking whether it is in the other person's best interest.
Kindness, though primarily understood to be an external act towards other people, can also be applied to oneself.
Self-esteem is built upon many building blocks and one of those is kindness.
It is important also to remember to be kind to yourself as well as expressing that to those around you; to be forgiving to yourself; to do acts for yourself which are in your best interest, whether for the future or the present.
To conclude, kindness is essential in our relationships. It is of benefit both to those we are in a relationship with and ourselves. Without it, we are much more likely to mistreat others and/or be mistreated ourselves.
Kindness is a great guiding principle, so much so that it can be applied in almost all contexts of a relationship even if the decision to make is unclear. We can always ask, ‘What is the kind thing to do in this situation for the other person and for myself?’
We should always remember to be kind!
Written by Paul Semakula, our fab Schools Work Coordinator
For some resources for this year’s RSE Day, visit https://www.rseday.com/resources