Heart4kidsadvocacyforum's Blog

What does it take and whom must you be to serve children as their teacher?

You must be empathetic.

Empathy- It is defined as the ability to understand and share the feelings, thoughts, or experiences of another person.  It involves putting yourself in someone else’s position emotionally and cognitively.  There are three main types of empathy:

1. Cognitive Empathy- Understanding someone else’s perspective or thoughts.
2. Emotional (Affective) Empathy- Feeling what another person is feeling.
3. Compassionate Empathy- Taking action to help someone based on your understanding of their emotions.

Empathy helps strengthen relationships, improve communication, and foster kindness.  This all makes great sense that empathy is a key component of what a teacher needs as part of their character and modality of relating and interacting with our children. 

We want to know that we can count on our children’s teacher being sensitive and aware of what is transpiring in our child’s learning experience and well even our child’s well-being in general.  We want to know that are children’s feelings are being attended to and that they feel they can trust their teacher as a caregiver that is there to safeguard their well-being not just physically, but emotionally.  This is why it is important for teachers to know who each child is.  I don’t mean just knowing a child’s name, but to study and observe each child to recognize the spiritual essence of who a child is.  We have to relate to children from their soul essence which means we have to be more vulnerable in allowing children to relate to us from our spiritual essence.  They see us!  Do we see them?

 It is work!  It is an investment of time and energy, and it is not easy when you think about the number of children our teachers have to be responsible for and accountable to.  We really need to re-think the format and logistics of how to provide an educational system that will be more supportive of our children and our children’s teachers.  They need a support system that will make space and time for teachers and children to develop relationships and engage in ways that will make learning and growing exciting, relevant, and supports their growth in all their domains.  We can support our children and their teachers on this journey of education in our child’s life.  Being an empathetic person in the way you relate to children, builds your capacity to be an opening for others in your life to receive our gift of caring and showing compassion and empathy in the lives of others. 

Remember-Children hold special heart spaces that are open and vulnerable to the people and things they are exposed to.  Always keep this in mind as you engage with the children in your care -that goes for parents and teachers.