Page 27 - Parents Magazine (December 2019)

H E L P T H E M INSPIRE KINDNESS
T H R I V E _ _ _ _MAKE COOKIES TO GIVE _ _ _ _
I N E V E R Y W A Y VOLUNTEERING AT ALL AGES

Compassion

for Others

Starts Young
Even 6-month-olds can
demonstrate empathy, says
a study in the British Journal of
Psychology. Researchers
showed infants two videos.
In one, a square character
climbs a hill and meets a
circular friend; they happily
go down the hill together. In
the other, a circular figure hits
a square character, making it
cry and double over. When
researchers presented the
squares to the babies, more
than 80 percent chose the one
that had been hit, showing that
the infants were empathetic
to the bullied shape.
You can help your baby
develop this tendency. “Her
brain grows with love and
connection, so gaze into her
eyes as you feed her and coo
back when she coos at you,”
says Robin Berman, M.D., a
Parents advisor and author of
Permission to Parent. “If she’s
crying, say, ‘I know you’re
hungry. Dad’s getting a bottle.‘
Being present and attuned
is an act of kindness and a
building block of empathy.”
—Emily Elveru
photograph by
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