#ELBlog #373: The Teddy Bear: A Kindness Story

I was observing a class late in the 2025 school year and the teacher was sharing a story that I had not known before. She read a story to the kids called The Teddy Bear.

The story goes into detail about President Teddy Roosevelt. He was on a camping trip in the early 1900s and a local group there wanted to impress him and actually captured a bear. They had it tied up, and excitedly told the president that they had a bear for him.

Teddy, an outdoorsman and hunter himself, did not want the bear to be tied up. As such, he actually thanked the local group, but asked them to release the bear back to the wild. The newspapers got hold of the story of his kindness towards animals.

The public enjoyed hearing this story and President Roosevelt’s favor grew because of his kindness. A local couple in New York really enjoyed the story and sewed by hand a stuffed teddy bear based on the picture in the local newspapers of Teddy Roosevelt and the story. They put it in the window of their candy shop and it sold immediately. They named it Teddy’s bear.

They made a second bear, and it also sold immediately. They thought this could be a pretty cool idea to give to people as a gift, and mailed a Bear to Teddy Roosevelt himself asking if they could use his name with the bear.

He wrote the couple back and graciously said yes, although he didn’t think his name would help at all.

They were thrilled and the teddy bear was born from this act of love and kindness towards animals

Many people think leadership is about power or strength. However, leadership is actually more so about connections and relationships, and in this story kindness. When we can show kindness and graciousness in our leadership, it attracts people and brings them in, rather than pushing them away. It brings people together and does not separate them.

I loved hearing the story and seeing the kids’ faces as they learned about Teddy Roosevelt and the Teddy bear.

What a great example of leadership, modeling kindness!

Now more than ever we need stories like this! Thank you for your leadership and kindness in your school, communities, businesses and more! Keep surviving and thriving friends.