Empathy

As a teacher I seem to repeat, "How do you think that might make him/her feel?"

As much as we say it some kids just seem to lack that understanding. They seem to have trouble putting them selves in someone else's shoes. 

I had a fall at school a little while ago. It was unpleasant, my ankle hurt but that wasn't what upset me the most. I happened to fall over in front of my class. Now, most of my kids were lovely. They asked if I was o.k. and tried to help me up. There was one little charmer who decided to point and laugh, not only laugh as a shock reaction, I might add, but continuous laughter even after seeing that I was in pain.

This has been on my mind for a little while. It got me thinking about empathy (the intellectual identification with or vicarious experience of the feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of another). 

So if this is a skill that doesn't come so easily to others, how do we teach it? 

My class had a discussion today about empathy and what it means. We did some role play activities to demonstrate how we might show empathy towards others. I mentioned "treat others as you want to be treated," quote that all of us have heard many times. After all this I still wan't sure if my message sunk in. 

I think this is a vital skill for everyone to learn if they are to function successfully in society. 

This triggered me to read a little about the development of empathy in children.

I found out that this is a skill that children learn, it is not something that comes to them naturally. 

From the articles I read there seemed to be a specific theme: when teaching children about empathy the outcome has to feel good and the problem has to be broken down for them to understand. 

It seems more complicated than I first thought. 

Here's my question though.... is it solely up to the teachers to teach their students a skill such as empathy or is it the responsibility of the family? On the other hand what happens when those skills aren't being taught at home?