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Adults believe a child's natural instinct to care for others changes at the age of 11, according to a new poll.
Becoming more aware of social norms, acting less on instinct and being preoccupied with phones , means kindness diminishes as we age, the survey of 1,000 adults and 1,000 children found.
While 67 per cent of adult respondents said they would not consider sharing their food with others, although 43 per cent of children would happily hand over some to a friend or loved one.
Thirty-eight per cent said they would hug someone for no reason, compared to just 35 per cent of adults.
Despite this, 96 per cent of the adults said they would still refer to themselves as "kind".
Child refugees share their hopes and fears on World Refugee DayShow all 25 1 /25Child refugees share their hopes and fears on World Refugee Day Child refugees share their hopes and fears on World Refugee Day Prisca, 14-years-old, Congo refugee in Kyaka, Uganda Prisca lives with his family in the camp. His father was killed by rebels back in the Congo. On his first picture Prisca's drawing represent the violence that he saw in the Congo, he says: "We have been in Uganda for one year now.Our life in Congo was really hard, the rebels came into our village, and raided our homes and took everything and beat up everyone. And one day my father was taken from our house by the rebels and killed, so we decided to run for our lives. I have a very strong memory of the day he was killed. He pleaded for his life in vain. In the future I just want to live a normal life, get a job and live peacefully."
Save the Children
Child refugees share their hopes and fears on World Refugee Day Prisca, 14-years-old, Congo refugee in Kyaka,Uganda On his second picture, Prisca has drawn of his dream to be a good driver and his love of football, he says: "The picture of the car is about my dream that I will be a good driver. The picture of a standing child with the ball is me."
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Child refugees share their hopes and fears on World Refugee Day Fatima, 13-years-old, Rohingya refugee in Cox's Bazaar, Bangladesh Fatima lives with her parents, two sisters and grandfather in the camps. Her first picture shows her fears, she says: “When we first came to Bangladesh there were lots of dogs and snakes. It was scary. There were also no latrines to go the toilet. We could bring no clothes with us when we left our home, we suffered lots of difficulties. We also could not bring any cooking utensils to cook with. When we first arrived in Bangladesh a local family helped us to eat and we took shelter in their home. Gradually, over time we got the materials to build a house and things to cook with."
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Child refugees share their hopes and fears on World Refugee Day Fatima, 13-years-old, Rohingya refugee in Cox's Bazaar, Bangladesh Fatima's second picture shows her dream of being a teacher says: "I want to be a teacher in the future and I want to teach girls like me. It is important to teach girls so they can become educated and they can teach others. It is important that girls become educated.”
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Child refugees share their hopes and fears on World Refugee Day Mamadou, 14-years-old, Congo refugee in Kyaka, Uganda Mamadou lives with his family in the camp. On his first picture Mamadou drawings represent violence, he says: "On my picture I have drawn people fighting each other. I have drawn a gun because it is what I experienced in the DRC."
Fredrik Lerneryd / Save The Children
Child refugees share their hopes and fears on World Refugee Day Mamadou, 14-years-old, Congo refugee in Kyaka, Uganda On his second picture Mamadou's drawings represent his dreams of becoming a teacher and a footballer: "In my future first I need to be educated so I can be a teacher. After that, because here I learned football, I can combine that activity to play and be a teacher when there are holidays."
Fredrik Lerneryd / Save The Children
Child refugees share their hopes and fears on World Refugee Day Hasina, 13-years-old, Rohingya refugee in Cox's Bazaar, Bangladesh Hasina lives with her parents and four siblings in the camp. Her picture shows her fear of ghosts, she says: “I was afraid of ghosts when I first came to the camp because they make the people senseless and sometimes crazy. I saw some people acting crazy people because of ghosts, I was afraid that I might become one of them which was why I was afraid. Ghosts are what dead people become."
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Child refugees share their hopes and fears on World Refugee Day Hasina, 13-years-old, Rohingya refugee in Cox's Bazaar, Bangladesh Hasina's second picture shows her dream of being a tailor, she says: "I want to be a tailor when I am older because I want to sew clothes and make my own clothes. I want to be a tailor because with the clothes that I make I can earn money. With the money that I make I hope to buy new clothes which I could buy. I could also use this money to get treatment if I became ill and help my family.”
Save the Children
Child refugees share their hopes and fears on World Refugee Day Beaufret, Congo refugee in Kyaka, Uganda Beaufret lives in the Kyaka refugee camp in Uganda. On his first picture Beaufret draws his father being killed back in the Congo, he says: "Here is my house. Here is the person who cut my father. Here are the others, already dead. We are jumping over them while we are running. You can see the blood when they are dead."
Fredrik Lerneryd / Save The Children
Child refugees share their hopes and fears on World Refugee Day Beaufret, Congo refugee in Kyaka, Uganda On his second picture Beaufret drawings represent his hope to be a doctor and his love of football
Fredrik Lerneryd / Save The Children
Child refugees share their hopes and fears on World Refugee Day Aleisha, 13-years-old, Rohingya refugee in Cox's Bazaar, Bangladesh Aleisha lives with her brother, sister and parents in the camp. On her first picture Aleisha drawings represent her fear of dogs, she says: "I am very afraid of the dogs. When I first came to the camps there were lots of dogs and I was really frightened. When we came to Bangladesh there were lots of dogs and I was really afraid because they could take a bite from me. I was very scared in the camps."
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Child refugees share their hopes and fears on World Refugee Day Aleisha, 13-years-old, Rohingya refugee in Cox's Bazaar, Bangladesh On her second picture Aleisha's drawings represent her dream of working in the Child Friendly Space at the camp, she says: “When I grow up I want to work at the Child Friendly Space and be a staff person. I want to help other children. I want help children get better, like me, I have become educated and happier. The Child Friendly Space is my favourite place to be.”
Save the Children
Child refugees share their hopes and fears on World Refugee Day Fadi, 17-years-old, Syrian refugee in Za'atari, Jordan Fadi lives with his family in the camp. On his first picture, Fadi has drawn an airstrike on his family home back in Syria, he says: "We had to flee my neighbourhood and my house when there was an airstrike, like you can see here. Life in Syria was so good. We used to be in school. We used to have a home but it was destroyed. After the war started, the bombing began and the army came to our school. One day, we were playing football and they took our ball and ruined it on purpose."
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Child refugees share their hopes and fears on World Refugee Day Fadi, 17-years-old, Syrian refugee in Za'atari, Jordan On Fadi's second picture his drawings represent is dream of being a footballer: "I want to be a footballer when I grow up. My favourite footballer is Messi! I have drawn some stars as well, because this is where I am going – to be a superstar!”
Save the Children
Child refugees share their hopes and fears on World Refugee Day Alizia, 13-years-old, Congo refugee in Kayaka, Uganda Alizia lives in the camp with her family. Her drawings represent her memories and dreams.
Fredrik Lerneryd / Save The Children
Child refugees share their hopes and fears on World Refugee Day Alizia, 13-years-old, Congo refugee in Kayaka, Uganda Alizia hopes to be a nurse in future, she says: "I wish we could settle in one place instead of having to move around, so that I can study, I want to become a doctor or a nurse."
Fredrik Lerneryd / Save The Children
Child refugees share their hopes and fears on World Refugee Day Tomal, 14-years-old, Rohingya refugee in Cox's Bazaar, Bangladesh Tomal lives with his grandparents in the camp. His parents live nearby but Tomal has chosen to live with his grandparents as the quality of teaching is better in their area of the camp. His first picture shows his fear of dogs and elephants, he says: “When I first came here, I was afraid of dogs and elephants, especially in the night time. I was so afraid of dogs as they are always barking and seem like they are going to attack you. I was also afraid of tigers roaming in the forest. Since I was not a citizen of Bangladesh and came here for the first time, I was worried about Bangladesh and the people of this country.”
Save the Children
Child refugees share their hopes and fears on World Refugee Day Tomal, 14-years-old, Rohingya refugee in Cox's Bazaar, Bangladesh Tomal's second picture shows his dream of teaching English: “I love to study and my favourite subject is English. I am learning English so that I can teach other people. English will help me get a job in the future. I want to teach my siblings including my friends English. I think I am doing very well and have a lot to teach younger people, so I want to teach in the future. I also have an interest in cricket and football."
Save the Children
Child refugees share their hopes and fears on World Refugee Day Marwa, 14-years-old, Syrian refugee in Zaatari, Jordan Marwa lives with her family in the camp. On her first picture Marwa's drawings represent her dream of being an artist, she says: “I have loved painting since I was little and I want to be a painter when I grow up. That’s why I have drawn a brush. I also love birthdays!"
Save the Children
Child refugees share their hopes and fears on World Refugee Day Marwa, 14-years-old, Syrian refugee in Zaatari, Jordan On her second picture Marwa has written of her dream to be a teacher, she says: "I also wrote here that I want to be a teacher as this is what I was probably going to be if I lived still lived in Syria”.
Save the Children
Child refugees share their hopes and fears on World Refugee Day Omar, 15-years-old, Syrian refugee boy in Zaatari, Jordan Omar lives with his family in the camp. On his first picture Omar has drawn a number of incidents from his life back in Syria: "This is a story of a military car that fired at another car carrying lots of normal people who were killed. Here is an airstrike and the house it destroyed and the dead people I used to see all on the street in my neighbourhood all the time. I never told anyone how I felt, I kept it to myself, but it made me so depressed that I wouldn’t come out of my room because I was crying. I would sometimes get bullied on the way home from school back in Syria.” Drawings include a military car shooting a normal car (bottom), an airstrike destroying a house (top right) and Omar getting bullied (top left).
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Child refugees share their hopes and fears on World Refugee Day Omar, 15-years-old, Syrian refugee boy in Zaatari, Jordan On his second picture Omar's drawings represent his dreams: “I have drawn a doctor because this is what I want to be – I want to build a hospital and call it Syria. My dad hopes I will become a doctor. I also want to be a footballer. I also want to help all the refugees in the future. Like provide aid for them and help them access education because I’m a refugee too." Drawings include a house and car (bottom), a doctor (top left) and a hospital (top right).
Save the Children
Child refugees share their hopes and fears on World Refugee Day Farah, 13-years-old, Syrian refugee in Zaatari, Jordan Farah lives with her mother and uncle in the camp. On her first picture Farah has drawn about her love of football, she says: "I wrote I love football because I love to play with my friends and brothers and I used to play in Syria."
Save the Children
Child refugees share their hopes and fears on World Refugee Day Farah, 13-years-old, Syrian refugee in Zaatari, Jordan On her second picture Farah's drawings represent her dream of being a doctor: “I want to be a doctor because I want to help people and make sure they get the treatment they need or I could be a teacher. For children to reach for their dreams, they need to be able to write and read and I want to help them”.
Save the Children
Child refugees share their hopes and fears on World Refugee Day Mohammad. 15-years-old, Rohingya refugee in Cox's Bazaar, Bangladesh Mohammad lives with his grandmother, aunt and younger brother. His parents separated from the family and live in Malaysia. On his picture Mohammad has represented a number of his hobbies and dreams including teaching, football and maths.
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The findings to the test with a behavioural experiment by Bassetts Vitamins, which commissioned the research.
Subjects were told they would be taking part in an experiment and instructed to sit in the waiting room while everything was being set up - unaware they were already under observation.
An actor posing as a production assistant, started to tidy up and ‘accidentally’ knocked over a pot of pens to see how the volunteers would react.
The children helped to clear up the felt-tips, whereas the grown-ups were more hesitant.
“The results of the experiment confirm that children feel more comfortable with others who are caring and kind, because experience has taught them that kindness creates a better atmosphere than conflict at home, and cooperation gets better results," Child psychologist Dr Richard Woolfson, said.
“Once they leave the sheltered world of childhood, and enter adulthood, however, they may find that priorities change, that results are valued more than people, and that success is valued more than sensitivity. In that harsher environment, kindness becomes less important, and may even be construed as a weakness.
“This may explain why the adults who took part in the experiment were less helpful than their children.”
The study also found 57 per cent of adults said children teach them how to be kind.
But just one in five of the adults checked in on an elderly neighbour and just 17 per cent put time aside for volunteering.
Sharing snacks was the most common act of kindness among children along with asking someone if they are okay and giving others a hug for no reason.
It also emerged that being nice is a natural mood-enhancer, with 52 per cent of adult respondents saying they felt better after an act of kindness, while 28 per cent admit it gets them out of a bad mood.
Children also feel the benefit, with half feeling happier after being kind, and more than a third saying it improved their day.
The survey also revealed adults placed more emphasis on children being caring towards others, with 68 per cent saying this would make them prouder than their child getting good results at school.
Dr Woolfson, said: ‘Children are innately more kind than adults.That’s why babies cry when they hear the stressed cries of another baby, and that’s why your toddler comforts his tearful friend, perhaps by giving him a cuddly toy to ease his unhappiness. These wonderful acts of kindness happen without any coercion and they are lovely to observe.”
SWNS
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