How to develop empathy in children

Empathy is the intention to understand feelings and emotions, trying to experience in an objective and rational way what another individual feels, that is, the ability to put oneself in the place of the other. Sadness, joy, fear, anger, are feelings that we have all had at some time. In Guiainfantil

Empathy is the intention to understand feelings and emotions, trying to experience in an objective and rational way what another individual feels, that is, the ability to put oneself in the place of the other.

Sadness, joy, fear, anger, are feelings that we have all had at some time. In Guiainfantil.com we tell you why it is so important that we foster empathy in children and how to make them empathetic.

How to get children to be empathetic?

When children are very young they think that everyone revolves around them. As they grow they understand and cry when they see that Bambi runs out of mom or laugh if they see a funny movie and, that happens, because they identify with the characters and emotions of others. That means that they begin to develop the capacity for empathy. If we help them to name those emotions, to express what happens to them, they will immediately learn to be empathic, that is, to care about the needs of others, to be compressive, therefore, they will acquire fundamental social skills. to relate to the rest of the people.

Children learn by our example. If we adults pay attention to the things that happen to them and we make them see that we care and take their opinions into account, we will make them empathetic with others.Everyday situations are the school for learning empathy.

Imagine that we are at home and Juan, our little neighbor, comes crying because his dog has disappeared. We immediately go out to the street to look for his pet and at night we ask our son, how do you think Juan feels? We will know right away that the child has empathy because he will feel and show us that he is sad and worried.

Empathic children are more communicative because they know how to express their emotions better and have higher self-esteem because they feel more secure, that is why it is very important that they learn to listen and to be observers.

Games and activities to educate children in empathy

- Using stories, songs, poetry, is a good idea for children to learn to be empathic. Hacer - Making small theaters representing the characters of a story,

exchanging the roles of each one , it is good for them to realize how each one feels.- We can put some

drawings in your room , in the door of the refrigerator, etc. with faces showing different emotions and, throughout the day, taking advantage of everyday situations, we can ask the child to choose one that shows how he feels at that moment. So little by little he will know how to express how he feels, whether he is sad, happy or angry, he will know how to name each emotion and he will understand when the other person has those same feelings.If others feel that we are empathic, they will trust us more, starting with our children.

To finish I leave you a sentence of Lawrence J .: "Empathy is like giving someone a psychological hug"