There is new neuroscience research to support that reading with your child, as opposed to reading to your child, and the ways in which you interact with the text can actually help your child to learn about empathy. Instead of teaching children to take on someone else’s feelings, emotions, or understanding how or why someone might respond emotionally in certain situations, this new research actually suggests that by helping children to imagine being the character in a book and thinking about how they would deal with situations, other characters and the general problem[s] in the story can actually lead to children thinking emphatically. Who knew all this time that all we needed were some good books with strong characters and deep plots to help our children become more thoughtful, sensitive and kind people?
If you’re thinking about trying this by reading a book to your child at home, and engaging in conversations that lead you to stop, and question/wonder about the character, their situations, their interactions with other characters, and then stopping to talk with your child about how they would react, what they think about what the character is saying/doing, and imagining themselves in the story, the following is a great resource for books perfect for teaching empathy:
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/lists/books-that-teach-empathy#
And, if you’re interested in reading the whole article where the above quote comes from, here it is… https://www.inc.com/bill-murphy-jr/neuroscience-kids-success-parents-best-practices.html
Thanks for reading!
ACES Reading Intervention 