December 2015 - Grade 1: How Would You Feel?

For our 1st grade lesson this December, children viewed a program called “How Would You Feel?” Learning About Empathy. Designed especially for young children, this program introduces kids to one of the most important skills for establishing and managing social interactions and relationships: how to look at a situation from another person’s point of view, to imagine how one would feel in another person’s place. Here are some suggestions you might use to further encourage your child to develop a sensitivity to, and compassion for, the feelings of others.  You might begin by talking about the way people feel in certain circumstances. For example, you might say, “Your brother was upset when you borrowed his new CD without asking. How would you feel if he did the same to you?” Or you might suggest that when your child breaks a playdate with a friend, that she imagine how she would feel if her friend did the same to her.

Here are some points about empathy that your child learned in the program:

• When someone is unhappy, imagining yourself in that person’s place can help you decide what to do.
• Asking yourself how you would feel in that situation helps you see it from another point of view.
• If you want to make it clear you understand how someone feels, try to say something that makes the situation better, not worse.
• Imagining how someone else feels and responding in a caring way makes you a better friend.

Reading books about empathy together can reinforce your child’s understanding of how best to respond to other people’s feelings. Here are two suggestions:

McBratney, Sam. I’m Sorry. HarperCollins, 2000.

Tolan, Stephanie. Sophie and the Sidewalk Man. Simon & Schuster, 1992.