I’m not convinced that kindness beyond the normal expectations is something that you want your kids to aspire to. We’re living in an increasingly cut throat and polarized country and while it’s important to provide culture normative empathy in order to avoid being ostracized, going beyond that is likely to your own personal detriment. In the workplace the liars, cheaters and backstabers are the ones that get promoted so why not just skip to the end point and tell your kid that those are the behaviors that it’s ok to engage in these behaviors in order to be successful