FMI - For Mama's Information

Roots of Empathy

While visiting friends a few moths ago, we learned that the then 9-month-old boy and his 3-year-old sister had been at school with the big kids for a Roots of Empathy lesson. I had never heard of Roots of Empathy, so I found out about how meeting and spending time with a baby in early school years can prevent aggression in children as they grow.

Roots of Empathy uses the proven effect of lessening aggression by raising social and emotional competence and increasing empathy in elementary schoolchildren from Kindergarten to Grade 8.

A neighbourhood infant and parent visit the school every three weeks through the year and a certified Roots of Empathy instructor talks to the school children about the baby or toddler's development and names the emotions they see. Babies act as teachers to the older children and help them see what the school children are going through themselves.

This program approaches empathy from both the mind and the heart, stating that "the cognitive aspect of empathy is perspective taking and the affective aspect is emotion."

To find out more about this program and how to support Roots of Empathy either through a donation or becoming a volunteer, see their website.

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