How to teach your child to be more empathetic

Monica Valrani, CEO of Ladybird ELC and Nursery offers six tips on how to encourage your child to be more empathetic

1. Talk to your child about other people’s feelings in difficult situations and how you would feel if you were in their place. Ask them questions about how they imagine other people may feel in different situations

2. Don’t be afraid to discuss ‘right’ and ‘wrong behaviour’. Simple ethical discussions can help children to become more aware of the feels and thoughts of others

3. Display physical affection, hug and kiss your child and don’t be afraid to show different emotions in day-to-day life at home.

4. Encourage your child to talk about their feelings so they can understand and label different emotions

5. Don’t forget to praise empathic behaviour, when your child behaves empathetically engage them in a conversation

6. Using manners when speaking such as ‘Please,’ ‘Thank you’, and ‘Sorry’ should be part of parents’ daily dictionary – children pick up on these small behaviours from parents and copy them.

Ladybird nursery include as part of their curriculum exercises to encourage children to be empathetic, and to be tolerant of others. For more information, visit Ladybird.

Why not show your child this Sesame Street video on empathy to kick start a conversation on the subject?