Empathy
No matter who your children are, where they come from, or who their parents are, there is one human quality that extends throughout the globe and connects humankind. Empathy—understanding the feelings of another.
Empathy is a learned human skill. Thus, it is extremely important that us teachers, and more importantly parents, introduce this life skill in early childhood to help build compassionate and kind human beings.
Teach and Repeat
In every true Montessori environment, empathy is a skill we take very seriously. We preach and repeat it with compassion, kindness, and care, until we start to see all the children, echo our words throughout the room.
It’s important to talk the talk, but our students are also learning how to walk the walk. In the spirit of Valentine's this year, our children created love-themed cards for people they'd never met before. Each creation was gifted to residents of Symphony Manor, which is a local nursing home close to Neshaminy Montessori's campus. Inside of each card were messages of friendship and as well as love, including many heart renderings. The takeaway from this particular lesson was to show compassion and kindness to everyone everywhere, even to strangers.
Another example was when we celebrated the 100th day of school with our annual food drive. Our goal is always to collect at least 100 items, and this year, the goal was surpassed at 173! It is a wonderful message for the children to know that they are giving food to help another family who might not have as many resources. So many of them were so happy to put food in the bin and know it would make another family happy too!
Why are Empathy and Kindness so important?
Because teaching empathy is an important part of a child’s social and emotional development. Empathetic children are willing to listening to their peers, have a better understanding of feeling and are open to compromise, while those that are still acquiring the skill might have more difficulty understanding the needs of others and maintain a solid stance of non-negotiation.
