Creating Milestones



Nicole with her brother, at top, and doing kindergarten homework!

 The Roots of Empathy is such an amazing program! I believe this program truly works, and every community should adopt it in their school systems. Empathy isn’t something that we are born with, it is something we are taught by our parents, teachers, role models, siblings or whoever our caretaker/guardian may be. We’re not born knowing all the skills we need for life so they have to be taught to us. With this program children are learning empathy from a baby. This program has also possibly impacted their eventual parenting skills and fostered their empathy toward all people.  

Learning as a child is fun, and opportunities for doing so are endless. One of the many important parts in a child’s life is when they hit each of many milestones. Having that first “ah-ha!” moment is such an exciting time in a child’s life. During the Roots of Empathy class, the children are learning from a mother and her baby.  In this chapter, Sharon, the teacher, places baby Leah on top of a blanket where she sits up. The kids are excited to watch Leah and to watch her first “ah-ha!” moments.  When talking about Leah’s “ah-ha!” moments, the kids respond to Sharon with excitement while talking about how Leah is able to sit up straight. When Sharon asks the children if Leah can crawl or walk, the children respond with “not yet.”

Reading that the children responded with “not yet” was such an amazing thing for me. This gives me hope as a child development major that children do enjoy learning.  We did a similar lesson in a preschool class where I used to work. One of our student’s mothers had another baby and as part of one of our weekly lesson plans, we brought her mother in with her newborn baby. This was also a way to help her daughter Brandi transition into being a new big sister. Her behavior was beginning to regress. Things like staying dry overnight no longer were happening and she wanted to be in diapers. She began acting in a negative way in class, in order to get attention. However, the day her mom came in with her new sister she said something that I won’t forget. She said, “This is my new baby sister Baylee, and she can’t talk yet, but she will because she is nice.” This was such an important thing for Brandi to talk about. I knew that Brandi would begin taking on her new role of being a big sister and that her regression would stop. This was a huge step for Brandi because she was only 4 ½ years old.

When I look back at my first “ah-ha!” moment, I was in the third grade and I had the hardest time reading words out loud. I could say the word in my head but when the word came out, it didn’t sound the same.  A teacher of mine, Mrs. Foley, taught me to break the words into syllables. She told me to say it like it sounds, and to say it all together. After a week’s worth of practice, I was thinking “ah-ha!” I got it. I can read out loud without being nervous. My confidence went up and I wasn’t afraid to read out loud. As a child, I remember thinking that I couldn’t do it yet, but things turned around and I did it. It was then I became a more confident child. As teachers, this is something we want for all of our students. I can’t think of many things that are harder or more important for children than learning to read.

Another moment from this chapter that I appreciated was when Sharon pulled out a green blanket and placed it on the floor. Leah was placed sitting upright on top of it. The blanket was used to create a boundary for the children. This allowed the children to sit around the baby without touching or getting too near the baby. During circle time, keeping the children interested is very important but we as teachers know how easily children can get distracted.

When I worked in a preschool, we created a similar routine that worked for our classroom and helped us during circle time. Our children would grab a mat that had their name on it and sit down in front of the group leader. This would let us know that they were ready for that day’s lesson. This was a great way to do circle time because the children were able to stay on their 2x2 mat rather than sitting knee to knee and getting distracted.

The main objective of this program is to help children learn to display empathy towards others, and to realize that, no matter how old we are, we should not stop showing empathy. This program is so important because these children will grow up remembering what they learned and know how important it is to show empathy.