Empathy is key to happiness and success in all aspects of life. Here's how to nurture it in toddlers by building emotional awareness and fostering compassion.
"Empathy has no script. There is no right way or wrong way to do it. It’s simply listening, holding space, withholding judgment, emotionally connecting, and communicating that incredibly healing message of ‘You’re not alone.’" - Brené Brown
Key Concepts
- We need empathy to be happy and successful, in our relationships, in school, as well as in the workplace.
- Empathy in toddlerhood could mean giving a hug to a friend who is crying, asking about someone they see in distress, offering to help with a task or a project that is important to you, asking questions about social issues like homelessness, poverty, sickness or hunger, talking about how other people think or feel.
- Empathy can be nurtured through gratitude. The practice of gratitude has been shown to make you more sensitive to the needs of others, and gives you greater emotional connectivity.
What to Try
- Build your child's emotional vocabulary by talking about feelings (yours, theirs, those of characters in books/movies).
- Model sympathetic feelings towards others. For example, when you see a child crying in the playground, talk with your toddler about what may have happened and how that child must feel: “I see a little girl crying, so I think she may be sad. I wonder if she hurt herself. That’s happened to you before, right? It hurts when you fall on the playground and people cry.”
- Talk about what people have in common, beyond the obvious. Exposing your children to difference and diversity, also means helping them to relate to experiences outside of their own.
- Change a few “thank you’s” to “I am grateful for…” Involve your toddler in acts of service in your community.