How to Raise a Compassionate Child

Compassion is both innate and a learned behaviour picked up on by children. It makes the way you treat those around you a vital part of their learning and development, so as their parents you must set a good example. Be kind to others, considerate of their feelings and demonstrate respect to all. Aside from being good people, you will need to make sure that your child’s aware of their actions and develop their emotional intelligence. In this blog, we’ve included advice that was shared with us by a private school in London to help you in raising a compassionate child.

Building Emotional Intelligence 

The first step to teaching children compassion is building their emotional intelligence. They will need an awareness of how those around them feel so you will need to explore different emotions, like sad, happiness, and anger. You can point them out in real-life situations or on TV to help them grasp a proper understanding of how we look when we feel them. It’s also a good exercise to get your child to consider their own feelings so that they are able to resonate and empathise with others. 

Have Patience

In reality, this can be quite a difficult task for children. While they may be able to tell them apart, they may not be able to fully grasp how those around them feel and know how to respond so you will need to be patient.

How to Show Compassion

This brings us nicely onto their second piece of advice and that’s to offer hints and ideas on how to actually demonstrate compassion. The easiest way to do this is to talk to others, ask them about how they are feeling and be there to listen. When playing with their friends for example and they notice that something’s wrong, you may encourage your child to go and speak to them or offer a hug.