Established in 1996, and now delivered in North America, New Zealand, Europe and Great Britain, “Roots of Empathy” is a classroom programme which aims to promote understanding of human development, diversity and the uniqueness of individuals. The programme has been credited with reducing levels of aggression and instances of bullying among school children.
At the heart of the programme is the requirement to have a parent and baby visit a classroom on a monthly basis over the course of next school year. Ideally, the baby should be aged 2-4 months when the programme begins in mid-September. The tutor for Roots of Empathy, Mrs Allison Anderson, will have the responsibility for preparing the identified class for the baby’s visits, being there during the visits and then conducting follow up lessons in the days following the visits. A number of themes will be explored as a result of the baby’s involvement and will include caring and planning, crying, emotions, sleep, safety, communicating etc. The programme, which ran for the first time during the 2014-2015 year, proved to be very successful and enjoyable for the children and for the baby and his parents.
The programme claims that children who participate in Roots of Empathy display:
· better interaction with peers
· increased social skills
· increased empathy
· decreased involvement in threatening, violent behaviour.
We would be delighted to hear from parents who will have a baby in the required age range by September and who may be interested in learning more about the programme.