Empathy – It’s not Child’s Play!
You may not remember what it was like to be a child, but empathy is an amazing tool to build close, satisfying relationships. To increase your ability to manage your child’s behaviour in an empathic way try the following:
- Have someone feed you sloppy food from a spoon or allow a friend who’s in a hurry to brush your teeth and comb your hair.
- Try to make someone understand that you are tired or hungry or interested in having a look at something … without using words.
- Try to explain to someone that you are frightened or anxious or jealous … without words!
- Get down on your knees and see what the world looks like from there.
- Imagine what it would be like to be strapped into a buggy and pushed in and out of boring shops through vast crowds of people for up to two hours at a time.
- Take a ride on a tandem making sure the person in front of you blocks out your view completely – or sit in the back of a car from where you can see nothing but the back of the seat in front of you… for an hour or two.
- Put on a pair of thick gloves that are two sizes to big for you then attempt the following:
- Doing up buttons
- Tying shoe laces
- Fastening a Zip
- Imagine what it would be like if things just happened all around you all day… no one explained what was happening next, asked your permission or your opinion and repeatedly bossed you around and told you to hurry up!
Dads, if you want to manage your children’s behaviour well, first you have to see life through their eyes. You may think it’s child’s play but it is not always easy being a child!
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