We’d all like for our children to be kind, thoughtful and have the emotional maturity to take
care of those around them. Compassion is something that we’re all capable of, including
children. You can teach it through the way that you hold yourself and interact with others as
they look up to their parents as role models. You can also help them by reminding them in
social situations. We gathered more tips on raising compassionate children from an
independent school in the West Midlands and have shared them below.

Talk About Feelings
It’s easy to do things and upset others without thinking. Training your child to be more
mindful of what others are feeling can help them to be more compassionate and a better
friend. This is something that you can do by exploring what the different emotions are, what
they may feel like and look like from an outside perspective.

Bad Examples
We’ve already spoken about good examples but what’s just as important is condemning the
bad. If you’re ever in a situation where you witness unkind behaviour in front of your child,
condemn or use it as an opportunity to reflect by talking about why it was wrong with your
child. This will help to avoid confusion and sending mixed messages.

Praise
We can sometimes forget to praise children like when they do as told and help us out. Praise
can help them feel a sense of accomplishment and joy from doing something kind and
encourage them to continue with it.

Drawing
Learning about how to be kind and compassionate doesn’t have to be so serious. You can
create a drawing activity where they draw different facial expressions and label them with
the different emotions.

We hope that you found these tips helpful. For more handy parenting tips, take a look at our
recent blogs.