Who Cares? Animals and Kids, Learning Empathy
Simply considered, empathy describes a person’s capacity to sense and imagine how others feel. Empathy is central to developing moral reasoning skills and contributes to one’s capacity for moral understanding. As such, empathy is at the center of many new studies on compassion for its value as a basic “building block of morality.”
It’s easy to see that learning to consider perspectives and experiences that differ from one’s own are integral to moral development, so it shouldn’t be surprising that this empathic skill is also linked to social-emotional development in children. If you have animals and children in your home, articles like “Teaching Your Dog How to Behave Around Children” offer helpful insights and practical wisdom about how to foster mutual respect and good behavior.
The value of caring is evident everywhere, from the “Making Caring Common” project notes five practical tips to cultivate empathy, to the global Charter for Compassion movement sharing resources with organizers from communities all over the world. Empathic skills are also linked to Emotional Intelligence, which has been associated with personal and professional indicators of success and happiness.
Cultivating empathy is a practice of caring beyond immediate circles of family and friends, and countless articles and resources have emerged from diverse sources with practical “how-to’s” for tips on raising a compassionate child. The animal adoption movement has made significant strides in this effort, too, developing kids and pets resources for families.
But the social benefits for children whose families include animals at home are only beginning to be understood. With parental guidance and understanding of age-appropriate tasks, children can learn about nurturing, responsibility, and empathy by cultivating compassion for animals, and higher empathy scores were earned among school aged children with animals in the home, especially when animal welfare was a consideration.
Empathy, like other social skills, can be developed, and caring for an animal’s well-being can introduce meaningful opportunities for children to expand their growing moral understanding. It’s encouraging to see researchers and families more frequently looking to encourage empathy in children by exploring how forever homes for furry friends may help build sensitivity, nurturing skills, responsibility, and compassion. Like children and youth, animals are vulnerable and dependent on those around them to keep them safe and happy. Learn more about how to foster empathy with these resources for parents and educators and grow the bonds between your two and four-legged family members.
TEACH EMPATHY 