Teaching Children Empathy

Book excerpt: Helping children develop greater empathy-related awareness and skills can help prevent negative social behaviours such as bullying, meanness, and alienation. Empathy is a fundamental social emotion because it brings a sense of emotional connection to others. It is this awareness that is not only basic to all healthy relationships; it is the root of prosocial behaviour, altruism, kindness and peace. Empathy has cognitive, affective and behavioural components that can be learned and improved upon by children. The lessons and activities in this book are designed to: teach students the value of empathy; assist students in recognizing their own and others' feelings; help students put themselves in "someone else's shoes"; and instruct students how to exhibit understanding and acceptance. Each topic-related lesson includes five inviting worksheets that can be reproduced and used repeatedly with elementary school-aged students.