Two year-old Sam leaned over with a mischievous grin, well aware that we were all watching her and snatched the family cat by the tail, yanking hard and pulling her up to by the back end. Sam's father laughed and shouted to the kitchen where Sam's mother was cleaning up our dinner dishes, "Do you see what your daughter's doing in here?"

I sat in stunned silence and rubbed my pregnant belly wondering what I'd do differently in the first two years of my unborn baby's life to raise a child who would not reach for our cat's tail to pick him up, knowing it was a cruel thing to do. Sam is not, by nature a cruel child and her parents are not malicious people. But, what can parents do to foster compassion in their children, even in simple situations like these?

It seems simple really when you realize that children are by their basic nature kind and compassionate. Anyone who has ever experienced the singularly marvelous joy that comes from having a child seek your lap out above all others and climb into it, craving love and attention knows that children are loving and innately inborn with the capacity for deep compassion. So, how do we foster this for the rest of their lives?

START IN INFACY
Obviously, your bundle of joy cannot understand deep lessons of compassion and explaining why we should give to the needy to your six month-old is equivalent to explaining it to your dog. But, by meeting all of your baby's immediate needs with gentleness and tenderness, every single time fosters a sense of compassion in them from their earliest days. Growing up with compassion in their lives in reciprocal form from their earliest memories makes it an easier concept for them to grasp.

Speak in soft voices to your infant. Cradle and rock him. Hold him close and make sure he never wants for attention. The old idea that you can spoil a baby with too much attention should be thrown out the window as your baby needs your love and attention to thrive.

SET LIMITS
When infants grow into toddlers, motor skills develop and their worlds become more ego-centric. Their exploration of their world can lead to a lot of not-gentle touching and a lot of "mine." Setting limits and explaining why you do so is very important in this early stage of development. It will not be uncommon for your child to not fully understand these explanations at this time, but using repetition is the key at this age. Young children learn through repetition. Enforcing consequences for breeches of

• 1
• 2
• 3
• next page >>

---

Add your voice

Know something about How to teach children compassion?
We want to hear your view. Write now!