The Path Towards Empathy Moves On...

We have continued to focus on identifying feelings and emotions in ourselves and others, problem solving, and building successful relationships. This past week the children worked together on creating a friendship mural which is now hanging in the classroom. This coming week we are all going to contribute to a pot luck fruit salad and vegetable soup as we read Stone Soup, a winter favorite.
In the center of this collage is a tree that the children made during our celebration of Tu B'Shevat. Every time a child recognizes an act of kindness performed by another child, we are going to add a "leaf" or "fruit" to the tree. The children already painted and cut out a number of shapes to be added to our tree over the weeks and months to come. They are just waiting to be attached as we practice recognizing acts of kindness (gemilut chasidim) in others.
Children during the preschool years show a kind of thinking which is egocentric. They have great difficulty taking the perspective of another person. This is a limitation in their cognitive ability which is developmental in nature, and not a sign of selfishness. We are helping to gently guide them towards being able to see things from the perspective of another person. When this happens, they will have the ability to be empathic young people. That is why we are encouraging them to identify acts of kindness that they observe in their classmates rather than in themselves. We fully expect that our tree will blossom and look more full and beautiful in the spring!