Encore Episode: Teaching Your Child Empathy & Compassion

The holidays and current events are a great opportunity to teach your child empathy and compassion.It’s your responsibility as a parent to teach your child empathy and compassion for others. This will help him have more caring and understanding for others throughout his life.

Empathy starts with understanding other people’s emotions and feelings. Kids have to get in touch with their own emotions and feelings first. You can’t understand emotions unless you communicate face-to-face. Talk through what could help others feel better so your child understands how others feel.

Expand your child’s experiences through travel and reading. Encourage community involvement.

Community Service

Show your child firsthand what other people experience through community service. Empower him to make changes in the world by doing something about it. Involve your children in altruistic activities.

Listen as Dr. Corinn Cross joins Melanie Cole, MS, to share how you can develop your child’s sense of empathy and compassion.


Reading List:

Books on Food Donations and Soup Kitchens, Turkey Drive/Food Drives, Visiting Food Banks

*Maddi's Fridge by Lois Brandt

A young girl realizes her friend’s fridge is often empty. She tries to sneak her food from home. Eventually she confides in her mother that her friend’s family needs food.  Together they help the family and eventually organize a food drive. The book discusses food drives and food pantries. The Author’s Note discusses how 1 in 5 US children live in homes that are food insecure, meaning they run out of food before the end of the month. 

Uncle Willie and The Soup Kitchen by Dyanne Disalvo-Ryan

A young boy accompanies his uncle to work in a soup kitchen. He learns all about how soup kitchens and neighboring communities work together to feed those in need. A prologue gives some background and additional information about soup kitchens and who they serve – although this prologue is better read after the book so that children have an understanding of what a soup kitchen is and can absorb the additional information. 

Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña

A young boy and his grandmother leave church and take a bus through a culturally diverse community. During the ride, the young boy laments that he isn’t out playing with his friends. Instead, he and his grandmother are going to work at a soup kitchen.  By the end of the book, he realizes how important what he is doing really is.

“Last Stop” is a simpler book than “Uncle Willie”. Unlike “Uncle Willie,” the reader does not experience what it is like to work at a soup kitchen. “Last Stop” is more about the journey. The beauty of the book however is that it illustrates that everyone has something to give. 

Books About Veterans, Veteran’s Day, Memorial Day, Operation Gratitude

*The Wall by Eve Bunting

A very moving book about a young boy and his dad who travel to Washington DC to look for the grandfather’s name on the Vietnam Memorial. It helps children to understand the sacrifices these soldiers have made and illustrates that the men and women fighting for our country are someone’s parent, grandparent or child. 

Books About Families Who Need Homes and Furniture, Christmas (A Carpenter’s gift is an amazing Christmas story), Furniture Drives, Habitat For Humanity-Type Projects, Losing Homes to Fires

*The Carpenter's Gift: A Christmas Tale about the Rockefeller Center Tree by David Rubel

An amazingly beautiful and moving Christmas story about a young poor boy and his dad who drive to NYC to sell Christmas trees. They give the last tree to a group of men working at a construction site. Later those men show up at the boy’s home with left over supplies from their building and help the father to repair and insulate their home. The book’s epilogue discusses Habitat for Humanity and how the Christmas Tree at Rockefeller Center is donated every year to provide lumbar for homes for families in need. 

A Chair for My Mother by Vera ...