Can We Teach Children to be Compassionate and Kind?
Photo by Rajesh Rajput
A UNESCO online article explores the question of whether children can be taught to be more compassionate and kind.
Neelima Chopra, UNESCO MGIEP’s SEL Skills Coordinator, writes about attending a workshop on bullying in schools where teachers shared the opinion that ‘children can be very cruel’. Yet at the same time we hear of acts of great generosity on the part of young children. The author asks, “Does kindness and compassion come naturally to children or are they cruel and unkind? And as educators and parents … can children be taught to be more compassionate and kind?”
Chopra notes: “Research suggests that human beings are born with a strong instinct for kindness and compassion. Controlled experiments indicate that social and emotional competencies can further be cultivated during early years at home and in schools. A very good time to start teaching kindness to children is during their ‘critical early years’ – the time broadly from birth to puberty. During this period of development, the brain exhibits maximum ‘neuroplasticity’, that is the ability of the brain to form neural pathways in response to varying stimuli. Hence it is believed that the early formative years of children are the most critical in their education and most suitable for the implementation of Social Emotional Learning (SEL) programmes in schools.”
The author outlines the following suggestions for teaching compassion and kindness to children:
Modelling behaviours: “Providing first-hand experience to children, and observing their parents and teachers demonstrate acts of kindness and setting examples, is the best way of nurturing a kindness mindset in children.”
Encouraging children to play with friends: This is “not only important for their overall development but also helps them understand others’ perspectives and needs.”
Through stories: “…reading age-appropriate stories of kindness and compassion can inspire them to be kind themselves.”
Through nature and animals: “providing opportunities to be around animals is a great way to experience and practice kindness for children.”
Spending time with elders in the family or community: Activities such as “…helping them with small chores or singing songs with them”.
Acknowledging children’s feeling of kindness: “Use examples and open-ended questions to help you understand children’s feelings of kindness. Above all, smile and participate in their act of kindness.” The author advises, “it is also important to recognize and acknowledge the difference between the ‘feeling of helping’ and ‘feeling pity’. As children may not directly verbalise their feelings, look for cues and initiate a conversation to understand better and respond according.”
UNESCO MGIEP offer a course, SEL for Classrooms, providing tools and resources to help teachers implement SEL activities (empathy, mindfulness, compassion and critical enquiry) and competencies amongst their students. The ten-hour, self-paced, digital course, comprised of 5 modules, provides access to child-friendly and age-appropriate resources to educators in the form of class activities, videos and worksheets for educators working with young students (K-6). https://mgiep.unesco.org/article/sel-for-classrooms