There are certain characteristics which play a key role in person’s growth and forming relationships throughout our life. Learning to be empathetic is one of them and it is important to teach children how to care for others’ feelings.
Yes, it is true that empathy can be taught and imparted it’s just you have to make a conscious effort to help your children understand. It can be a little tricky but these tips will help your children get there:
- Help children understand the concept of individuality. The more they understand that everyone is different, it will be easier to accept differences.
- Each person has a range of emotions and some things may not sit well with everyone. Help them understand that and teach them how to be respectful of other people’s emotions.
- Ask them to imagine themselves in a situation and understand how they would feel if someone else were to behave in a similar way.
- Help them understand how they can acknowledge the feelings of their friends in certain situations.
- Encourage them to offer comfort to known people and friends if they look like they could use a shoulder to lean on.
These may take years but taking small steps in this direction will surely make young kids understand how they can be kinder to people.
