By: Kim Foulds and Jill Crane

Kindness is a powerful tool. Being kind boosts our well-being and overall happiness, strengthens our connections with others¹, and improves our sense of belonging.²

Kindness goes a long way for others, too. Research shows that we underestimate the impact of our small acts of kindness on the people around us.

Children’s media has the power to portray kindness in a holistic way—to model what it means to be kind, and to show how meaningful small acts of kindness can be for everyone involved. And the need for this type of modeling is more important than ever.

In 2016, Sesame Workshop asked parents in the US about kindness in response to concerns that the world seemed to be lacking in empathy and worries about the long-term effects on children and their communities. The findings confirmed our fears: While more than half of the parents we surveyed (55%) said they believe kindness is a priority to most people, two-thirds (64%) said they do not think people go out of their way to help others, and most (70%) were worried about their children living in an unkind world.

Parents agreed that kindness is important and should be taught first at home, but they also expressed the belief that tools are not required to teach kindness because, to them, kindness is common sense. In addition, all of the parents we surveyed in 2016 said they do a good job of modeling and teaching kindness to their own children, but that other parents fall short of that mark. And as a result, the majority of parents (54%) said they consider their children to be kinder than most kids the same age.

The power of kindness might explain why an early 2024 social media post in which Elmo asked, “How is everybody doing?” elicited such a huge reaction. His small act of kindness—checking in—struck a chord with people around the world, and the response was clear: People are struggling.

Considering this response, we wanted to circle back to parents to get a sense of the current state of kindness eight years after our initial study. In 2024, we saw that much of what gave us pause in 2016 is still concerning parents today. The patterns remain the same—nearly all parents we surveyed believe in the power of kindness and see it as the most important element of a child’s well-being. However, they are still worried that the world is an unkind place for children. And although nearly all parents report practicing kindness themselves, they think the average person is not kind.

While the pattern of findings on kindness between 2016 and 2024 mirror each other, we also uncovered some important differences.

For example, we saw shifts in how parents described their children. While 88% of parents said “kind” described their child in 2016, that number dropped to 75% in 2024. We saw reductions in kind behaviors such as being thoughtful and helpful, too, but there were upticks in describing children as resilient (62% vs. 66%), anxious (30% vs. 43%) and difficult (22% vs. 38%).

There is reason for hope, however. Our 2024 study found that promoting kindness and resilience is still viewed as critical by US parents: 87% believe it’s important for society to promote kindness, with 45% saying it’s extremely important. And most parents report that both their child’s and their own personal well-being would improve in a kinder world.

In a similar vein, 88% of parents agree that their children’s well-being would improve if they had tools to be more resilient. In fact, resilience is important to almost all parents, with 90% agreeing that fostering it in children has a positive ripple effect, spreading strength and courage throughout communities.

Parents know the value of kindness and want their children to live in a kinder world, and there is a demand for resources that leverage the power of kindness (85%). Knowing what it can do for personal and community well-being, there is also a need for content that elevates the importance of kindness to help both children and parents thrive in a kinder world (84%).

As educational media continues to evolve to ensure we are meeting the needs of children today, we have an important opportunity and responsibility to meet this moment and continue to create content for kids and families that helps build a kinder society.

1. Hui, B. P. H., Ng, J. C. K., Berzaghi, E., Cunningham-Amos, L. A., & Kogan, A. (2020). “Rewards of kindness? A meta-analysis of the link between prosociality and well-being.” Psychological Bulletin, 146(12). doi.org/10.1037/bul0000298

2. Kumar, A., & Epley, N. (2023). “A little good goes an unexpectedly long way: Underestimating the positive impact of kindness on recipients.” Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 152(1). doi.org/10.1037/xge0001271

KIM FOULDS is VP of content research and evaluation at Sesame Workshop, and oversees these aspects of co-productions and community engagement initiatives around the world.

As VP of consumer insights, JILL CRANE heads up brand, consumer and syndicated market research globally, as well as audience/media analytics.

This story originally appeared in Kidscreen’s Q1 2025 magazine.