Empathy Parenting, Roots of Empathy and Seeds of Empathy
Content Appropriate for Modules 1 and 5
In her presentation, Mary Gordon looks at how promoting empathy with young children is a crucial lever for positive life outcomes. Mary discusses the programs she has established for parents and young children, and looks at how encouraging and modeling empathy is the key to social competence and academic functioning.
Full Presentation
Presentation Sections
Opening - Setting the Stage
In setting the stage for her presentation, Mary Gordon briefly reviews research showing the importance of a child’s first 10 years to later life outcomes. She discusses the role of the relationship between parent and child, looks at experiential learning, and stresses that much learning happens before children get to school that will affect them forever.
Focus Questions
- What are the two or three important ideas that Mary Gordon puts forward?
- Do you agree with all of them? In your opinion which ones are priorities?
Social interaction and language acquisition are crucial to give children a good start in life. With this in mind, Mary Gordon discusses how parents learn best from modeling what they are taught, rather than from being told what to do. Mary looks at how early literacy parenting centres make a difference to young children.
Focus Questions
- What types of programs are presently available in our communities?
- How can parents get involved?
- Who are our hard to reach parents?
- Why might they be resistant to these kinds of programs?
- How do we reach our hard to reach parents in a positive and encouraging way?
Mary Gordon describes the Roots of Empathy program established for children in Kindergarten and Grade 1. The program involves building emotional literacy through the participation of babies in classrooms. The intent is to build up children’s sense of self. Mary looks at the importance of recognizing that how a child feels will determine how he or she will learn that day.
Focus Questions
- What do you know about this program in your community?
- What questions do you have?
- How might you encourage this program locally?
In this section, Mary Gordon looks at her newest program, Seeds of Empathy. The program, designed for ages 3 – 5, fosters social and emotional competence, with the goal of improving the chances of children becoming moral citizens. Mary says helping children to find their voice is vital to their participation in democratic society.
Focus Questions
- What do you know about this program in your community?
- What questions do you have?
- How might you encourage this program locally?