How Would YOU Feel?

Are you teaching your toddler empathy? That’s right, you begin to teach empathy at the very earliest age. When her little chin begins to wiggle before she starts to cry, you reach to comfort her. When she has a wet or soiled diaper, you change her. Have you ever considered why?

Beyond knowing that some things need to be done to properly care for an infant, you consider how you would feel under the same set of circumstances. What is empathy? It is, according to the dictionary, the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.

Clearly, an infant is not capable of understanding and sharing the feelings of another, but she can certainly respond to your comforting her when she needs it. This is the beginning of empathy. As you continue to respond to her cries in appropriate ways, she will come to understand that she can count on you when the needs arise.

I recall when my youngest child, at age six or seven, told me she was sad when I was having a hard time doing some new task. She learned in kindergarten that a friend of hers did not have a Bible, so she, without my knowledge, took her own New Testament to that child. Why would she do these things? Because she was able to put herself in the other person’s shoes, so to speak. She knew how she would feel under the same circumstances.

How did she learn empathy? She had possibly experienced what it felt like to have a hard time learning a new skill. She had a Bible of her own, and could imagine how she would feel if she did not. She had also learned from experience how it felt to be comforted when she experienced difficult or sad times.

It is our responsibility to teach empathy to our precious children. I often said to my own children as well as the ones in my home-based child day care: How do you think it made him feel when you (or his friend) took the toy he was using? What might you do to make him feel better?

When the child did a good deed, I pointed out how his actions made his friend feel. I felt it was important for every child to understand how his/her actions affected others. My daughter continues to the present time to consider how her actions and behaviors affect others.

Doesn’t it make you wonder what went wrong with those who commit crimes? Did they never learn empathy? Are they unable to consider how their actions/behaviors make their victims or the victim’s families feel? Do make a point of helping your wee one understand and practice empathy. Thanks for reading and Happy Parenting.

Brenda Holland-Robinson can be reached via email at brenda.holland.r@gmail.com.