The Kindness Experiment

This morning I watched a video regarding bullying and suicide. As some of you may know, suicide prevention is a subject that is very close to my heart. I proposed an idea to my kids that I am calling The Kindness Experiment. What I suggested was that for just one day (and whoever chooses to participate do it on the same day) they invite a kid who is not in their usual circle of friends to join them for lunch at school. I suggested picking a kid who appears to have different interests than they do i.e. an athlete asks a more artsy kid, a studious kid asks a more free spirited kid. I thought, wouldn't it be great if kids stepped outside their comfort zone of people and took 20 minutes to realize how very similar they are to other kids and in extending an effort, can reduce bullying and perhaps make a new friend. If this were to happen, I would love to hear feedback from the kids who participated and what they got out of it. So fellow Patch readers, let me know your thoughts on this and feel free to offer any suggestions. Thank you! P.S. I apologize for run-on paragraph. My iPad is acting cooky!