Kid President’s Tips for Making the World a Better Place

Children have a great way of seeing the world. They don’t just see problems they see possibilities. They have this great gift of being able to see with eyes full of wonder and hope, yet also this terrible little habit of always being honest. Like really honest. This can, of course, be funny and wonderful. It can also be wonderfully awkward. Either way, I’ve found it’s always worth it to pause and listen to a child. It was this point of view that inspired the very first Kid President video. Robby, my younger brother-in-law, plays the role of a tiny self-proclaimed president in a series of web videos I created in hopes of inspiring and encouraging kids and grown-ups to work together. Along the way, he and I have found that by inviting people to think more like children, it begins to unlock creativity and compassion in ways we never even dreamed.

A couple of months ago, Robby and I received a call from Windows asking us to join in on their initiative to “Upgrade Your World.” With the holidays quickly approaching we wanted to share our tips on how we can all work to make the world a better place. Together, we came up with a short list of simple gestures we can do to spread joy to those around us:

Kid President’s Tips for Upgrading the World:

• Be awesome! If you want to be awesome – treat people awesomely. Sounds simple and, well, it really is. Start with the people right next to you.
• Make a donation! No matter where you are, there’s people next to you and they have needs. Find the closest local shelter, gather donations, and bring‘em over!
• Clean up! We like it here on our planet. There’s plenty we can do to take better care of it. We can start by working on using more biodegradable stuff.
• Create the future! Team up with kids to dream up a better future! One great way would be teaching kids to code so they’re better prepared for all that lies ahead.
• Throw kindness around like confetti! It’s all about treating everyone with kindness no matter what they look like or where they come from.

But we didn’t just make a video. Robby and I were able to upgrade a classroom at the Lincoln Magnet School for Mathematics & Science, an elementary school in our home state of Tennessee. Together with Microsoft, we delivered the #CartofAwesome to help kids learn STEM education. We want to see students in our neighborhood be empowered to grow and learn and create. We want them to have access to inspiring technology. Most of all we want the students to know there are people who believe in them. If you want to upgrade your world, there’s few places better to start with than a classroom.

Myself and Robby Novak, Kid President, teaming up with Microsoft to ‘Upgrade the World’ for students with Surface 3s on Windows 10 at the Jackson, Tennessee, Lincoln Magnet School for Mathematics & Science on December 16, 2015 

Microsoft and Kid President donate a ‘Cart of Awesome’ loaded with Surface 3s on Windows 10 to the Jackson, Tennessee, Lincoln Magnet School for Mathematics & Science on December 16, 2015 as part of Microsoft’s ‘Upgrade Your World’ campaign

What’s your idea for upgrading the world?  We want to know because that’s what Kid President is all about: sharing joy and making impact beyond the web. Maybe we can all think more like children. Maybe we can live in a world that’s less childish and more childlike. I think we really can upgrade the world. It just takes children and adults working together.

Let’s upgrade the world, people! Brad and (KP) out!