Hellobee Boards

I think you have to challenge a child to empathize. ie. she throws a block and it hits the dog and the dog yelps. i would repremand and say "how would you feel if you were hit in the head with a block, do you think you would cry like doggie did. wouldn't you want the person that threw the block to say they were sorry? What would make you feel better?...... lets do that for doggie."

My four year old is empathetic to her little sister....less so to me.

I think it's natural inmost people but that empathy also needs to be reinforced and encouraged in *everyone*. Looking around at our general adult population; not enough parents emphasized/emphasize teaching empathy, that's for sure.

@Pumuckl: @Mamaof2: I have no idea if this is accurate but in our experience with our riding program, it comes more naturally to many girls. We have had a few girls who don't seem to care about the horses (usually empathy for the horses translates to empathy for other people) or how their actions affect the horses, but the majority of our female students seem to naturally have empathy for the horses from their first lesson. Boys, I'd say the majority take a lot of reminders and encouragement, kind of like the dog example. One thing I think I've noticed is that boys do seem to get it eventually but maybe it doesn't kick in naturally as early as with girls. Our 7-8 year old boys seem to be significantly better than the 4-5 year old boys. Not a scientific study by any means, just our experiences.