Teaching Empathy: My Journey in Instilling the Golden Rule

Parenting is such a delightful and joyful act, filled with pleasant memories. Although it isn't always easy to groom these young ones into the best personalities that befit the kind of world we aspire to, since they're young and know little or nothing about right and wrong, it's our duty as parents to guide them and help them understand what is right from what isn't, and one of the core ways to get them to understand this better is to do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

One of the best ways to get people to do the right thing at all times is to put others into consideration before doing whatever it's they want to do. We've come to see that many people in our world today care less about other people's feelings and emotions, which has ended up jeopardizing many lives and destroying many friendships and relationships. In order to eradicate such from society, the best way to do that is to groom our young ones right from their tender age. Since the future is theirs, having all of them have this mindset will help make the world a decent and better place for them going forward.

So a few weeks ago, my young one came Emmanuella came home with some pen and eraser that aren't hers, and I was able to discover this when she brought her bags to me to help her with the home work she was given from school. That's just one of the homeschooling activities we indulge in, so as I was saying, I noticed the new items in her bag and asked where she got them, and then she was dumbfounded for a few minutes until I threatened to scold her, and she then explained what happened.

Apparently, I scolded her a few days ago prior to this for being careless with most of the writing materials she was given to use at the school. This happens because, at the end of the day, she wasn't able to provide any writing materials to indulge in her homeschooling activities. Since this has continued for some time, I told her that the next time such happens, I'll be using her food allowance to buy another. It was just a threat to make her more careful, but she took it seriously.

So rather than be more careless, she resorted to taking writing materials from her classmates, who she claimed were responsible for stealing her pen a few days ago. This didn't sit well with me, but I've not handled this with wisdom, so she'll not misunderstand the situation and get the lesson I'm trying to pass across. So I ask her some questions to help explain better.

The first question was: did you catch her in the act of stealing your items, or did you by any chance see your missing writing items with her? She said no, that she didn't see them with the girl, but she was convinced she took them because other missing items from other classmates were mostly found with the young girl. Well, I told her that, inasmuch as she has no evidence to prove the girl stole it, she shouldn't blame her for such, and I asked her, if someone were to blame her for the same reason, would she be happy?

She said she wouldn't be happy because she didn't steal anything, and such an accusation would hurt her. Then I explained to her that that is exactly how that girl will feel if she truly didn't steal the items she's been accused of stealing. This, I believe, explains the need to not do to others what we don't want them to do to us.

Well, it didn't end there because I still needed to scold her for stealing, so I told her point blank that I hope she's aware she just stole from someone, and that is against one of the core lessons I've taught her, and going against such would warrant scolding. I also had to remind her that I hope she remembered that when her own writing materials went missing, I scolded her, and that I hope she's aware that the girl she stole those writing items from would most likely be scolded by her parents for being careless too.

With those words, she realized her mistake and felt bad about it. I then told her I wouldn't scold her if she'd return the items she took back to the girl and offered apologies; she did, and I further affirmed to her the need to always put other people's feelings and emotions into consideration before taking any action. She learned her lesson and promised to always be considerate and careful moving forward.

That was just one of my simple ways of setting this right with my young ones, as well as grooming a younger generation that cares about others as much as they care about themselves, and the experience above was between me and my young niece. I hope you enjoyed the read and learned something. Thanks for your time, and have a wonderful night's rest.