Sometimes we hear of some sad news
We also feel sad too
Sometimes we hear of sad news
And we are driven by a need to help
Not only do we feel sorry for the people involved
We want to make it 
better too
That is Compassion
I have so often watched TV shows or Appeals and feel desperately sad for those concerned, it can be anything from a Nation in Starvation right through to a missing child, to a murdered victim family etc
I feel so sorry for them but then the inevitable happens, something occurs in "my world" and instantly other peoples worries are forgotten
To see true Compassion you would have to look at people who have seen the plight of others and have been so moved by it, they have not only dug deep in their pockets, but dug deep into their time and also into their hearts and worked at doing something to help and prevent the situation from happening ever again.
Naturally this is extreme cases of compassion, and the type that young children would not fully understand, so how do we go about educating our children about compassion.
Children need to be reminded of the term "Be Nice" !!!
Yes compassion goes far deeper than simply being nice, but being nice is a great foundation to start with.
Teaching children to be naturally compassionate, can be started by teaching your children to work in pairs, a teacher would try to match the children with two different children who have different values to bring into the partnership, that way the children work by valuing the contribution that each child brings into the project.
Sometimes we see a naturally compassionate child, they would be the ones who notice the child on their own with no friends and so befriend them, they would be the child that spots bullying in the playground and not only stops it they take the child under their wing and look after them so stopping the bullying.
The compassionate child is generally quite popular, after all which child would want to fall out with the child who is willing to help everyone and anyone. They may not be the child that is the "leader" of the group but they would certainly be quite a popular person, after all most of the children would be owing the compassionate child a favour of some sort.
With siblings you will see the more compassionate child being the child who is keen to make their sibling happy
We can help our children to be more compassionate, by not being possessive over their items and toys, teaching a child to share their most precious items is a great way of teaching them how easy it is to make someone else happy.
We can also draw their attention to the Charity collection posts, for instance in the malls you will sometimes see a charity appeal asking for you to put your pennies in, let your child do this making it clear how each penny goes to help another person, that even the one penny your child shares makes life a little better for someone else
Teach your child about illnesses, don't let them grow in fear, encourage them to be polite and attentive to older relations or neighbours.
In my parents church there is a family who have an old neighbour, whenever the mother of the house is walking to the shops with her toddlers, she gets the child to go to the door with her and taught the child to be the one to ask the neighbour if there is anything she needs from the shops. I thought this was great, obviously this has to be done within a safe environment for the child, you don't send the child to a neighbour knocking on a door without supervision !!!!!!!!!!!
Compassion is so much more than an act of kindness, so much more than being nice, so much more than caring. Compassion is a driven motivation to make things better for someone who needs our help or our childs help
(December 2007) (
