In today’s world of apathy and indifference, teaching our children empathy has become the need of the hour.
Daniel Goleman, a psychologist and author of the best-selling book Emotional Intelligence, reveals how having more empathy can lead to better relationships. Empathetic people are skilled in placing themselves inside the shoes of another person and trying to understand or imagine the world through that person’s eyes.
But, how do we go about teaching children that hatred and apathy are bad and they should feel for others. Surely, indifference is not going to help! As the outgoing American President Barack Obama said, “Learning to stand in somebody else’s shoes, to see through their eyes, that’s how peace begins. And it’s up to you to make that happen. Empathy is a quality of character that can change the world.”
Teaching children to avoid being selfish and comprehend and share the feelings of others will help them to understand and identify those who are suffering. They need to know another person’s views even if they may have misunderstood those views.
Children may be taught empathy through simple practices like listening to someone rather than trying to talk to them, showing genuine concern and care for others and getting to know someone instead of judging them.
To learn more about the various facets of empathy and how we can inculcate this feeling in our children, flip through the pages of this ClipBook.
Empathy is one of the most important life skills children can acquire. Empathy is one of those things you marvel at when you become a parent, simply because it doesn’t come with the child. Nobody is born empathetic. It must be taught.
Young children often don’t show empathy, because it develops gradually with increasing age. Here are some warning signs of low empathy in later elementary school-age and older kids.
Peter Gray describes empathy as, “a tendency to connect emotionally with others, to see things from others’ point of view, and to feel sympathy for others’ misfortune.” Here are ways to raise an empathetic child.
Empathy is at the heart of what it means to be human. It’s a foundation for acting ethically, for good relationships of many kinds, for loving well, and for professional success. And it’s key to preventing bullying and many other forms of cruelty.
Unlike intelligence and physical attractiveness, which depend largely on genetics, empathy is a skill that children learn. Its value is multifold. Children who are empathic tend to do better in school, in social situations, and in their adult care...
Empathic children are aware of their own feelings and individuality; are able to relate to common feelings while also distinguishing their own emotions from the feelings of others; can imagine how others might feel in a given situation and respond...
Most parents want to teach their kids to follow the Golden Rule: treating others as we would wish to be treated ourselves. However, children in our society often grow up with an underdeveloped sense of empathy, resulting in disruptive behaviors su...
