Effective Ways to Teach Empathy & Compassion To Kids

Empathy is an ability to know the feelings or emotional states of other people. Having empathy can help us to live more fulfilling and satisfying lives. Compassion and sympathy towards others are signs of positive mental health and proper socialization. Kindness and sympathy cannot be imposed on a person, it just comes naturally. However, we can make our child learn to be compassionate for others using the following methods:

Be Humble

Children follow in the footsteps of their parents and teachers. Be very careful while communicating with others in front of your children- they notice your behavior. Use words such as “sorry”, ‘thank you”, “please”, and “may I” while talking to others so that your children learn how to speak politely.

Acknowledge Sympathy

Be kind to others, and acknowledge the feelings, views, and experiences of other human beings. If you do not show compassion and kindness to others, your children will learn from your actions and fail to develop sympathy.

Don’t Forget To Say Sorry When You’re Wrong

Nobody is right all the time, and it’s important your child knows that. When you’re wrong or you’ve hurt somebody, the proper thing to do is to apologize. You should talk to your child more about feelings such as frustration, anger, love, and jealousy. Most importantly, don’t forget to say sorry to your child when necessary.

Make Empathy First On Your Priority List

The best way to create happiness for yourself is by being nice to others. You should make empathy on the top of your priority list and let your children know that he or she is a normal person like other child.

Talking about feelings is important for children, and learning to treat others the way you want to be treated helps to make a generation of empathetic, responsible, and compassionate people.