Teaching Children Compassion and Kindness

Since young children naturally identify with animals, and because animals are living beings like us, we can use our interactions with animals to teach children how to behave toward other people. Teaching our children to respect and protect even the smallest among us is one of the most important life lessons that we can pass along to them. It helps them learn to value one another—and it prevents violence. Teaching kindness and respect for animals is the first step in teaching children empathy. Incorporating simple concepts of kindness and respect into kids' daily lives is simple and fun!
The easiest and most important way to teach your little ones empathy is to lead by example. Show your children that it's cool to care by regularly engaging them in these and other fun empathy-building activities. Go to your local animal shelter and volunteer with your child to help care for homeless animals. Plant flowers and shrubbery for butterflies, bees, and other wildlife in your back yard. During a walk at the beach, in the woods, or by a stream, pick up plastic rings, bottles, and other trash that can kill birds, turtles, dolphins, and other animals.
Character training along these lines will result in men and women of broader sympathies; more humane, more lawabiding and in every respect more valuable citizens.