Lessons from Babies

Want to decrease bullying behavior? Bring a baby to school.

Roots of Empathy (ROE), an organization based in Toronto, has created a classroom program that has shown a dramatic effect in reducing levels of aggression and violence among school children while raising social/emotional competence and increasing empathy. The program reaches children from Kindergarten to Grade 8.

How it works - Emotional Literacy

At the heart of the program is a parent/infant team who visit the classroom every three weeks over the school year. Students observe the baby's development and label the baby's feelings. In this experiential learning, the baby becomes the "Teacher" and a lever, which the instructor uses to help children identify and reflect on their own feelings and the feelings of others. This "emotional literacy" lays the foundation for more safe and caring classrooms, where children are the "Changers." They become more competent in understanding their own feelings and the feelings of others (empathy) and are therefore less likely to physically, psychologically and emotionally hurt each other through bullying. In the ROE program children learn how to challenge cruelty and injustice. Messages of social inclusion and activities that are consensus building contribute to a culture of caring and this helps change the tone of the classroom for the better. Research results from national and international evaluations of ROE indicate significant reductions in aggression and increases in pro-social behavior.

Empathy

The cognitive aspect of empathy is "perspective taking" and the affective aspect is "emotion." ROE's focus is to educate both the mind and the heart. Read more about the program on their website.

Empathy is a key ingredient to responsible citizenship and responsive parenting. Information on infant safety and development helps children to be more aware of issues of infant vulnerability such as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), Shaken Baby Syndrome, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) and second hand smoke. Observations of a loving parent-child relationship give children a model of responsible parenting.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer carried an article about the program in a local Seattle school. A school counselor noted she's already noticed changes in some of her students. "The kids who are most attuned and asking questions are often the ones who had been in trouble or suspended," she said. During a recent session, a boy who had been in trouble at school tenderly held the "teaching baby," looked at him directly and talked to him softly. The counselor said "There's nothing in this room that can have the same effect."

But it's not only from the very young that students can learn empathy. The Living Classroom has an interesting article entitled From the Very Young to the Very Old - Empathy Abounds. They report many schools have seen significant results after visits from people on the other end of the age spectrum.