Empathy is the ability to feel other persons pain or misery. Children who develop this will become adults that will have more fulfilling and lasting careers, relationships, friendships and much greater stability in all areas of their lives.

Empathy yields kindness, compassion, and thoughtfulness.

Many parents are predominantly focused on having their children attain exam results, winning, appearance, compliance, etc.. which is great but often overlook the absolute importance of the development of empathy.

To develop empathy one must give an underpinning of emotional support in all that they do and teach them the importance of compassion towards others. It is a learned behavior.

A child who is just driven by reward and achievement without emotional support will not develop empathy – On the contrary, it is the perfect breeding ground for bullies and narcissists.

My personal belief is that this should be the number 1 development area for all children. Without this your children have nothing of substance and life will be much tougher for them. They will have few friends, constantly fall out with others and always be dissatisfied with what they have.