Meet our first Kidsburgh Kind Kid: Ariel Heywood

If you’ve ever been “the new kid” at school, you know how uncomfortable it can be. At any age, it’s not easy to walk into a new school. With no friends to talk with (and no idea when or whether you’ll begin making any), those first days can be really lonely.

Ariel Heywood was thinking about that recently when a new girl joined her preschool class.

“Ariel is only 3. But yesterday she came home and told me how she ate lunch with her new classmate, because she was new and didn’t have any friends,” says Ariel’s mom, Tiffanee Heywood.

And the kindness didn’t stop there: “When we picked her up, she walked her new friend to her car and told her to make sure she came back tomorrow,” Tiffanee told us. “This moment made me PROUD to know that I was raising one of the ‘Kind Kids.'”

We were so glad that Tiffanee let us know about her daughter’s act of kindness. Like so many people in the Pittsburgh area, our team at Kidsburgh has been inspired by the #bethekindkid movement. So we decided to begin sharing stories about acts of kindness by kids in our region.

We invite you to tell us about a child who has done an act of kindness that made you smile — whether it was something big, or a small but meaningful gesture. Parents and other caring adults can use this online form to tell us about a child who has made an effort to spread kindness in our community. You’re welcome to nominate kids of any age, up through age 17.

We look forward to writing about as many of these submissions as possible. And to celebrate the good work that our Kidsburgh Kind Kids do, each child who is recognized as a Kidsburgh Kind Kid will receive a #bethekindkid t-shirt!