Friday, March 9, 2012

Children's Compassion

A few months ago I was observing the preschool children at my center and some of the older children were teasing a child and telling her that they did not want to play with her. A younger child came to her and asked her what was wrong. The older child said "they are being mean to me." Before I could step in the young child told all of the older children they were not nice. The younger child then told the child that she "would be her friend." To me this shows that sometimes children are more compassionate than others.

4 comments:

  1. All of the human development disciplines suggest that we are all a product of our environments. With that said, I would like to open a discussion to suggest that children are taught compassion by the adults who introduce this concept into their environment. Some children take to this quicker than others which is why you may have a four year old who shows a considerable amount of compassion and empathy and a ten year old may show a minimal amount. In addition, children may show more compassion than adults because, again, adults become tainted by their environments and their experiences with others as they grow into this stage in their lives. Only to play the "devil's advocate," I think the concept of "compassion" is subjective with regard to children and how they experience and show this emotion. How does this younger child's expression of "compassion" compare to an older child's expression that you may have observed?

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  2. Randi and Joseph,
    I follow the theory that infants are inately good and compassionate. Through a series of events including biological, chemical, and environmental factors this alters the course of the child's actions and personality. Although of course there are instances that are exceptions. I tend to believe a four year old may have been taught compassion at home, shown emotional intelligence, and treated with respect; therefore stood up for someone that they saw being treated unfairly.

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  3. I agree that the younger child in the observation demonstrated compassion. However, I wonder if we consider additional the elements influencing the interaction. My experience has been that compassion is a higher level interaction between two people than a learned response. Based on discussions and implications of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs a child or person’s ability to display compassion may fluctuate on a daily basis. Compassion would indicate to me that the child is well rested, is confident they will receive the food they need, is secure about where they live and is loved. Older children begin to struggle with their sense of belonging as they desire stronger peer relationships. I often ask my staff when they are struggling with sharing and taking turns behavior with the children in their classrooms to reflect on the strengths and needs of each child. If a child comes in hungry, or has had their sleep cut short or disrupted, or has parents that are fighting, how can we expect them operate with esteem toward others. I encourage them to attend to the basic needs first: food, rest and reassurance of their value as a member in the class. One of the joys for me of working in an early childhood environment is that we are not mandated to drag children through a curriculum that is more important than each child’s individual needs and interests. Our work is always adapting and never boring.

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  4. I really enjoyed reading all of your comments about this blog post. Children are so honest and innocent that I believe sometimes we do not give them enough credit in sticky situations. I admire the child who had the courage to stick up for their classmate. I fear that maybe this is something we are seeing less and less of as bullying is becoming such an issue these days. I think you should feel extremely rewarded by what you were able to see from this child. You are obviously doing a wonderful job. I am a believer in children act by what they see in the environment around them. Great story!
    ~Nicole

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