COMPASSIONATE children HOW TO INSTILL EMPATHY IN KIDS

BY KIMBERLY BLAKER

Empathy is the ability to put yourself in another’s shoes. It’s similar to sympathy but with an important difference. To sympathize is to care about and understand the suffering experienced by another. When you sympathize with someone, you feel sorry for them. Sympathy gives you the ability to say the right thing to comfort another.

But, empathy goes a step further. It’s the ability to experience or relive the feelings of another. When you empathize, rather than focusing on your own feelings about the other person’s situation, you’re able to focus on the emotions of that person. When you empathize, the other person can tell you’re really listening to them. Furthermore, empathy increases your ability and likelihood to help the person with whom you empathize.

According to neuroscientists, the vast majority of us are born with the brain wiring necessary to empathize. Psychopaths make up about 1% of the population and are the exception, according to a 2013 study by neuroscientists at the University of Chicago and the University of New Mexico. Still, among the 99% of us who are born with this capacity, most don’t fully develop or use it to its potential.

Benefits Of Empathy

Empathy is beneficial in many ways, according to Katherin Sears, Ph.D., in Why Empathy Benefits Everyone. It provides us the ability to act kindly toward others, forgive family and friends, and bond with others over their ups and downs. Without the ability to empathize, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to form and maintain friendships. In fact, we’d have difficulty getting along with others at school or work and in society.

Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, in an interview with CBS Good Morning, revealed another vital benefit of empathy. Without it, she says, “there is no way we could innovate.” This makes a lot of sense. Although some people would still have the desire to innovate for personal gain, innovation would be far more limited. People would lack the motivation to innovate to help others unless it offered a reward for themselves. The field of medicine is a perfect example. Many strides have been made in medicine over the decades, much of which has resulted from human empathy.

How To Teach Kids Empathy

Experts believe, based on a large body of evidence, that empathy can be shaped. Not only can kids learn to empathize better, but so can adults. By practicing the following as a family, you can foster your, and your child’s, ability to empathize.

Active listening. This is a crucial component of empathy. Practice listening to each other and trying to understand the other’s perspective. Active listening