Why Teach Empathy to Preschoolers

ALK3R shared an article today about why preschoolers should be taught empathy.

Why We Should Teach Empathy to Preschoolers

I’m curious what you think. Please let me know in comments.

On my other blog, I posted ALK3R again with his article about the Evolution of Gratitude. Click here if you want to read it.

Julaina Kleist-Corwin

Written Across the Genres

Captivate Audiences to Create Loyal Fans

Hada’s Fog

4 Comments

Filed under teaching

4 Responses to Why Teach Empathy to Preschoolers

  1. I definitely agree that we should change the curriculum at all levels to include empathy, but that would require us to face the lies we tell ourselves about winners and winning. The clever winner is very often the bully, the cheat, the liar – in fact, the very person a good many people in this country voted into the White House. When a third of the country think that kindness and empathy are the signs of a loser, the chances of getting empathy training into schools (even pre-schools) is pretty slim.

  2. julaina

    You are right, Lani. But what a nice idea to teach little ones.
    Somehow in these political times, we must hang on to empathetic values. Thanks for commenting.

  3. I think the question of whether empathy can be taught is interesting. It should certainly be attempted for a better world. I’ve seen studies, which show that babies under a year display empathy so it seems a high number are born with it. If so, the teaching should be easy as one only needs to retain what is there. If there is none, I’m curious about whether it can be learned. Parents used to bite their children who bit other children to show them what it felt like. If it stopped the biting it’s more likely that fear of punishment rather than acquiring empathy can be credited. There are better methods today.

    I’ll never forget the anecdote about teaching logic to kindergarden students. One teacher observed after many discussions of logic, two children playing. Tommy hit Terry, and Terry said, “I hate blanks” where Tommy was of the blank race. Then he corrected himself and said “I hate some blanks.” With a second correction he said “I hate Tommy.” Let’s schedule logic class right after empathy for a world where we all coexist.

    • julaina

      I agree with you, Eloise, I think biting a child biter doesn’t teach empathy. I’d like to see more research on this topic, however, I doubt there will be funding for it these days.

Leave a Reply to julainaCancel reply