Friday, November 5, 2010

Empathy is not a dirty word.

We in this household think empathy is a very important trait to have. If everyone in the world had a healthy dose of empathy, the world would be a much better place. We are very proud to say that Evelyn is learning to be empathetic already!

It is unfortunate than an ignorant demagogue (who will remain nameless) claims empathy is somehow synonymous with hitler ... and leads to very bad decisions... like the holocaust...

As usual, this demagogue is wrong... Empathy is great to learn and great to learn early:
"Children who are empathic tend to do better in school, in social situations, and in their adult careers. Children and teenagers who have the greatest amount of skill at empathy are viewed as leaders by their peers."

Below is a video of Evie looking at a burn Roxanne got on the stove. I was so surprised the first time she saw it... I have never seen the look on her face before.. it looked like she was going to cry and she said.. "Owww-a" in the sadest voice I have ever heard. She was sad that her mommy had an owie. For a kid under 2, we think that is pretty special.