Episode 04. How to make someone feel welcome

In this episode of United Voices, Averil and Nuandeh explore what kindness, friendship, and belonging mean to children. Through thoughtful questions and personal stories, they discuss the people who make them feel cared for, from parents and siblings to friends and teachers.

The conversation highlights simple but powerful ways to make others feel welcome, especially when they are new or feeling unsure. The children share their own experiences of joining a new school, being included by classmates, and helping others feel part of a group.

Filled with warmth, honesty, and practical lessons about inclusion, this episode shows how children understand kindness in action and how small acts of care can make a big difference in someone's day.

Thank you for listening and please leave us a review on Apple or Spotify as it will help the children's voices and messages echo out into the world. We are on Instagram @caspr.ie  

Transcript

My name is, hi, my name is Nawandeh and I'm nine years old. Can you tell me what is a kind, do you know any kind people and why are they so kind? Yes, it is my brother because whenever I fall or hurt myself he always picks me up and he's really helpful and he helps me with things when I'm stuck on and I love my mum and my dad because they're the best parents and I love them so much. So whenever like I'm, whenever I'm hurt he checks if I have like any, any cuts and he always like really takes care of me, make sure that I don't get hurt and that's what makes him kind.

And do your parents play with you sometimes? Yes. Well, what kind of games do you play? We, we play cards and it's really fun because we, because sometimes we have to pick up loads of cards and we start laughing because it's either my dad made a joke and we all started laughing and we can't stop laughing. What can you do to make someone feel welcome? We, we can say our name and we, and we could be friends and we could show them around and we can show them what, where's the bathroom and everything and like where to put your coat, where to put your bags, just anything to make them feel welcome and not excluded.

Very good and have you ever felt new somewhere? Yes, my school, I have been new. I was new in senior infants. My class made me very welcome and it was really nice.

I enjoyed it. Oh and did you feel scared when you were new or were you okay? Oh wow, so it's hard to be new somewhere isn't it? And who, do you remember anyone that was really helpful when you were new? Yeah, my friends Michael, Salma, Priya and Penny. Do you remember anything nice that they did? Yeah, so one time I, I had a coat on my hand and then they all told my teacher and my teacher made sure that I was okay and I didn't hurt anywhere else.

And what was your play today in school? So basically it was about one of my teammates, they fell and then I picked them up, me, me and my, me and my other teammate, we picked them up and then we asked if we all wanted to be friends and then I said, all of us agreed I'd let Virginia be on our team. Great, so there was a new person on the team and you made them feel welcome. I learned on how to welcome people and I learned that what you're supposed to do if someone gets hurt and what not to do.

Thank you very much, well done, you're amazing, see you.