How do we raise a compassionate child? Children are all born with the human desire to care for others. The way that they are raised sets the foundations for how compassionate they are and how they deal with situations in life.
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Their ability to respond in different situations will vary and progress with age as does their ability to comprehend. To help you in raising a compassionate child, we have some tips here from an independent school in London.
Spot Emotions
Being compassionate comes from an awareness of others’ feelings. They are complex things but generally all look the same. To help your child with this, point out the different emotions that they see. If there is another child that they’re playing with that’s sad, point that out and suggest ways that they can comfort them. You can do the same when they are occupied by the TV by teaching them what the different facial expressions mean.
Be Patient
While children can understand these, it will take time for them to learn the reasons why and be able to address situations as we adults do. Understand that things will take time and be patient to avoid making them feel pressured.
Display Compassion to Those Around You
Children pick up on a lot and being unkind to those around you can be learned by them. It’s important that when you’re in their presence, you try to be the best role model that you can be. That might be by offering others a helping hand or taking time to make your friends feel better.
Address Unkind Behaviour
Children can do silly and mean things both intentionally and unintentionally. Use them as an opportunity to teach them about how we treat others. It will help them to learn right from wrong and stop them from repeating the same behaviour in future. The same goes for those around you. If you don’t address it, your child may think that that’s okay and pick up their bad behaviours.
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