Teaching empathy
Strategies for teaching empathy with tamariki to enable them to learn from their experiences and understand their own behaviour.
Teaching empathy
If tamariki don’t actually understand what ‘I’m sorry’ means, they’re not learning from the experience and therefore not really learning about empathy.
There are better ways to teach kids about empathy.
A better approach is to help them make the connection between what they’ve done and how it has hurt another person, either physically or emotionally.
Pātai atu ki te whānau:
- What ideas might work for your tamaiti to learn about how others feel?
Focusing on the other person’s feelings might help them to better understand how their behaviour has impacted on someone else.
Use examples and be specific:
- “Auē, look at Aroha. She’s crying and rubbing her arm where you hit her. Let’s find out if she’s OK. What could we do to help her feel better?”
Asking kids for their ideas is a great strategy for showing them that their opinion is important, and sometimes they have the answers within them.
Helpful resources for whānau
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Brain, Behavior, and Development <
Brain, Behavior, and Development -
Children's Voices<
Children's VoicesChildren's voices is a compilation of interviews with young children from many different backgrounds and cultures. Their words inspire parents to think about what really matters.
