They say that parents are every child’s first teacher. Before they learn anything from school, they have probably learned the alphabet or numbers from their mom or dad. Parents play a major role in the growth and learning process of their children, so it’s best that you teach them values they’ll live by.
Foster Self-Awareness
Help your children develop self-awareness by being careful at labeling their emotions. Don’t hesitate to tell them if they have done something wrong and at the same time, praise them when they do something good. Describe the act specifically, so that they’ll understand what you’re talking about. Remember that they’re kids, so their comprehension is not as good as yours.
Feel Your Kids
Meet your kid’s emotional needs at home. When emotional needs are met at home, they are more likely to show feelings of empathy towards others. If your child feels “secured” at home, you will have no problem raising an empathetic child.
Teach By Example
What better way to teach your child empathy than to be empathetic yourself. For instance, explain how you understand the feeling of losing your house and properties in a calamity. Better yet, why not donate a vehicle that’s simply sitting around in your garage to help victims of calamities. Donate A Car noted that many charities and institutions would be willing to take them. When your child sees you donate a vehicle, he may follow by donating what he can.
Spend Time Observing Other’s Emotions
You can teach your child nonverbal cues early on. Sit on a bench at the park, while observing the actions and emotional state of the people in the area. You can pose questions to your child as to what they think a person is feeling based on their face and gestures. This will help nurture their ability to care about what other people feel.
Remind Your Child To Think Of Others
As children are prone to forget something, you can remind them to think of others. For instance, if you are with your child at the grocery store, you can simply ask her what she thinks her older brother would like to have. This subconsciously teaches a child to think of the welfare of others.
Empathy is one emotion that kids should learn at a young age. You can help kids by teaching them self-awareness, meeting their emotional needs, being a role model, observing others and teaching them to think of others. These may be simple but they can surely go a long way in teaching kids the value of empathy.
