Empathy and Compassion In Children

Question: My child seems to be self-centered and I am not seeing empathy or compassion in her. How can I help develop these qualities in my child?

Sat: I don’t see anything wrong with that. Read the first quality again.
Bahar: Self-centered.
Sat: Actually, this is not bad in a child because the child that listens at all times will not grow up to have too much confidence. I am talking about when it does [listen] all the time and begins to rely on the opinion of others, rather than itself. A child that is rebellious to Me is actually a good sign. Although we want our child to behave, to listen and to obey, I would say if they do that at all times, you need to back off. So that’s for that!
For Me a lot of rebellious children become one of the greatest leaders later on in life- if it is controlled, meaning that it is not vicious, it is just rebellion. It is not harmful.
What were the other two characteristics?
Bahar: Lacking empathy and compassion.
Sat: How does the mother know? Some kids develop that later. Empathy is with memory, compassion is with memory, memory [of] what is good and what is bad. I think all of us as parents because of our own memory, we have a lot of compassion and empathy and that is enough to show the kid. They don’t need to cry because their mother is crying. They don’t need to be sad because their grandmother is sad, they need to be a child! We don’t see that, we want them to have the same experience and reaction as we do. But they haven’t been in the bazaar long enough.

Parenting Meeting
Empathy and Compassion In Children
April 02 2022