Empathy 

Dear ProKarate Rockford Family,  

This month’s Powerful Character Word is EMPATHY.  We will therefore be centering our mat-chat discussions and doing activities to help our students understand the importance of empathy as well as to help them become more empathetic in their actions.  

Empathy is one’s ability and potential to “take a walk in someone else’s shoes”.  More specifically, it is one’s ability to “understand, be aware of and vicariously experience the feelings or thoughts of another person”. Those who have solid empathy skills and the ability to recognize and comprehend the feelings of others frequently respond to the needs and feelings of those around them.  

Lil’Dragons: Empathy means “I understand your feelings”

Juniors: Empathy means, “Understanding and being sensitive to people’s feelings so that we can get along better with everyone. 

You might be wondering why we would be starting the New Year with a word like empathy, rather than goal setting, vision or perseverance.  It is with good reason.  Instead of only focusing on our own desires, we would like to see our students incorporate the feelings and needs of others into their growth for 2010. 

Empathy is a crucial social skill.  It helps children to problem solve as well as to make and retain friends.  Without the ability to determine the emotions of others and perceive the situation from a point of view other than their own, children may choose to use problem-solving techniques that are intended to benefit themselves alone.  This pattern of problem-solving can ultimately be unsuccessful because these children will have failed to recruit the support and cooperation of

others and may be branded as insensitive. 

While the ability to empathize with others improves with age, researchers have suggested that empathy skills take form as early as three years of age.  Young children possess the ability to recognize basic emotions and causes of emotions, and begin to comprehend that feelings change.  As children get older, they get better at inferring other’s intentions and feelings.   

During the four weeks of January we will be discussing the following:

      Week 1: Understanding the feeling of others.

      Week 2: Predicting and communicating feelings effectively.

      Week 3: Understanding how our actins can make other people feel.

      Week 4: Listening, expressing concern and putting it all together. 

Listening and talking about feelings helps children to be more understanding of others.  Please encourage your children to utilize the skills we will be teaching this month such as identifying their own feelings or the feelings of others, sharing feelings, and actively listening to how others feel.

Once again, thank you for your support in helping to make ProKarate Rockford one of the best in Martial Arts and personal development! 

With my warmest regards,

Wendy