Teaching Children Compassion

Empathy, understanding, compassion is an extremely important trait especially in today’s world & thus needs to be taught to our children who are the future. But can compassion be taught? Can we teach someone to empathize with a fellow human being who is not as fortunate as us in some way? Well, experts say that like language compassion & understanding is something we all are born with in different measures but it can be developed by setting example in front of children. It is something that becomes better when taught & observed.

In the present dog-eat-dog world, how can we teach our kids compassion? The process is neither one-time nor a short one. It needs to start early & go on bit by bit during a child’s growing up years. A child can become compassionate only if s/he has had a safe & secure environment. If one’s own world is shaken & insecure it becomes tough to think about someone else’s misfortune.

Momsters takes a look at how we can help our children become more sensitive towards various issues around them & develop an understanding for the same.

• Make your child feel secure & show compassion towards them.
• Bond as a family & talk about issues large & small, address what some people have to go through in a subtle manner.
• Show compassion towards others & set an example. 
• Use interesting mediums like movies & story books to instill this trait into your child. A few Momsters recommends: 

• Books: 
• Koi and the Kola Nuts: A Tale from Liberia
• The Quilt maker’s Gift
• Charlotte’s Web - also a movie
• Horace and Morris but Mostly Dolores
• The Dandelion Seed
• Enemy Pie
• The Mountains of Tibet
• The Gift of Crocodile
• Stellaluna 
• The Giving Tree (my personal favorite)
• Have you Filled Your Bucket Today? 
• Out of the Way! Out of the Way! by Uma Krishnaswami
• The Ant Bully
• Milton’s Secret 
• Chicken Sundays 
• Hana’s Suitcase
• Movies
• My Neighbor Totoro
• A Children's Garden of Poetry
• The King's Speech
• The Illusionist

• Volunteer with your kids or share stories of your volunteering work with them. Make volunteering a regular part of your family's life
• Take your children to visit old age homes or centers for visually impaired or animal shelters, etc.
• Appreciate & recognize your child’s kindness by 
• Reduce your child’s exposure to violent games & TV shows. 

Let’s try and do our bit in making the world a better place to live in.

Live by and teach the Golden Rule

"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you"