Denmark rates as one of the world's happiest places. It is also a country where kids are taught to care about the welfare of others.
There are several programs in Denmark aimed at increasing emotional awareness and empathy, including: how to interpret facial expressions, articulate experiences, thoughts, feelings, and senses. Danish children begin participating in these mandatory national programs as early as preschool.
One such program is called the Step by Step program where children are shown pictures of other kids' emotional expressions such as fear, anger, sadness, happiness, and so forth. The students then put into words and describe the facial expressions. Most important, the children learn not to be judgmental of the facial expressions, rather they recognize and respect them.
CAT-kit is also a very popular program that includes picture cards of faces and measuring sticks to gauge intensity of expressions as well as body pictures for the children to draw the physical aspects and location of emotions.
My Circle is another tool used in Denmark schools. Here children draw their friends, family, and people in their community or neighbourhood as part of an exercise on learning to better understand other people, faiths, customs and more.
At Gingerbread House Daycare, our certified childhood educators draw on comparable methods to teach empathy, too. We encourage 3-5 year olds to talk about bullying and teasing and to learn to become more caring toward each other. Another less obvious manner in which our teachers help instill empathy is my subtly mixing children of different strengths and weaknesses together. Students with strong reading skills are taught alongside those who may struggle with pronunciation; shier kids with more extroverted ones; etc. The premise is for students to support each other to reach their next best level. This helps foster collaboration, teamwork, and respect.
Empathy is one of the most important life skill a person can learn. The quality fosters successful leaders, managers, and businesses. It greatly improves relationships and social connectedness.
Maybe Canadian schools could also adopt Denmark's platform and focus on actively teaching empathy. We believe empathic kids will make happier adults.