Act of Kindness

This whole week I offered to take and pick up my little brother from school. Usually my mom takes him to school and risks the chance of being late to work. My dad picks him up everyday as well. Now, how did this affect me? Well, if I were to take him to school in the morning, that meant I had to wake up earlier than I usually do, and I did! Getting ready when we only have one bathroom is a STRUGGLE! I had to wake up at 5:30 in the morning so that my brother would have enough time to get ready as well and so that we could be out the door at 6:45. Morning is done, now to pick him up. He gets out of class at 2:50 put doesn’t get into the car until 3:30. Why? Well, because he stays to talk to friends. I had to wait about 30-40 mins to get into the car, and by that time we get traffic. 

After doing this act of kindness, I felt like I had the opportunity to help my parents out a little. It made me feel good and helpful. They have so much to do, they have work, church, and still have to come home to make dinner. Helping out my mom meant that she wouldn’t be late to work and would be able to get out on time. Helping out my dad meant he had the chance to take a nap. My dad wakes up early to go to work and sometimes doesn’t have time to take a nap because he has to go pick up my brother. Since I picked him up, he had the opportunity to take a nap and catch up on his sleep. 

There are many reasons why you should care for others. One reason why I decided to help my parents is because of the neurobiological explanation. When you help someone a chemical in you brain is released, Oxytocin. This chemical is responsible as to why you feel good about it (Finley 2020). It felt good when my parents said thank you. It also felt good to finally eat dinner as a family now that my mom didn’t get out late, and for my dad not to be so tired during the weekends. I chose to do this act of kindness because it benefited my parents, it didn’t matter if it was inconvenient for me. This idea can also be referred to as altruistic. This term can be defined as doing something to support them despite it being inconvenient to yourself (Finley 2020). 

I think it would take for someone to know the benefits of helping someone else has. If they knew there was an answer as to why you feel good when you do something nice it will motivate them to do many random acts of kindness.

Resources:

Finley, K. (2020). Caring and doing for others [PowerPoint presentation]. Retrieved from Moodle.