That program, called “Kindness Is Contagious: Catch It,” began in a single Kansas City, Mo., school and has since spread to more than 400 public schools in the area, according to Su Ellen Fried, founder of the Stop Violence Coalition, which now sponsors the school-based program.

Among the activities the program encourages is one in which children are asked to fill up two jars with beans. One jar contains a bean for every time a child receives a put-down, insult, or injury; another jar contains a bean for every time a child receives a “put-up” or an act of kindness.

“It gives kids a visual image of what they are doing to each other,” Fried tells WebMD. “The purpose is to increase the put-ups and decrease the put-downs.”

A second activity is called “Pass It On,” in which a teacher provides a general overview of what kindness is, and then waits to observe a spontaneous act of kindness among the classmates. When the teacher witnesses such an act, she or he gives the kind child an object — say, a red apple — and tells the child that he or she is now a witness and must pass the apple on to whomever performs a similar act of kindness.

“The feedback we got was amazing,” Fried says. “Kids wanted to be observed performing acts of kindness. They were overdosing on kindness.”

In Mindy Beaudry’s sixth Grade Class in Duluth Minn, students “ticket to enter the classroom every morning in announcing a recently performed act of kindness.

Interested parents can purchase two volumes of guidebooks describing the program and its activities for $20. Write to the Stop Violence Coalition, 301 East Armour, Suite 440, Kansas City, MO 64111.

– Gene Bedley