The Empathy Advantage: Coaching Children to Be Kind, Respectful, and Successful
When I teach schoolchildren about empathy, I can get a sense from the number of smiles and enthusiastic answers how the lesson went.
But what I cannot sense is whether any of the children are hurting that day from being teased about their religion, a disability, their skin color, or something else. And I cannot sense whether one of them has actually bullied a classmate on the way to school or at recess. I cannot tell who has no friends or who has no support at home. But after completing our program at the Kids bridge Tolerance Center in New Jersey, we ask the kids to fill out surveys about what they have learned. Every so often, personal reflections and epiphanies emerge, and I feel a swell of sadness rising.
“A girl was picking on me because I am from Dubai,” Jumana, a fifth grader, wrote after her class visited Kids bridge, where we teach about empathy, empowering children to stand up to bullies, and more. “She called me ‘Muslim Chick,’ and soon everybody was calling me that name. . . . It hurts to be judged like that”….Continue Reading.
