“When empathy goes against your truth,
it is no longer empathy but self-destruction”

~Miss. Tamika

(as per The Oxford Dictionary):
Empathy: the ability to understand and share the feelings of another
Sympathy: feelings of pity and sorrow for someone else’s misfortune

The big rave in education right now is emotional intelligence (EI) which is the ability to recognize, understand, and manage our own emotions as well as being able to recognize, understand, and influence the emotions of others.

It all sounds great, right?  What about in practice?

“What do you mean, Mis. Tamika?” you ask.

Let me use an example.

Once upon a time, there was a child who used to read quite badly for their age.  They hated to read.  They avoided it at every cost.  Their classmates empathized as they too had been there when first learning how to read.  Yet, they sympathized with their classmate and chose to stay focused on keeping their own reading on par (and beyond) and follow what their parents told them – “worry about you, not anyone else”.

One day, a classmate took interest in helping them to read better.  After a while, the child became better at reading, even volunteered to read passages to the class, in assemblies, and other places, with confidence and correctness.   As they became better and better with reading, their classmates became more and more indifferent of the leaps and bounds in confidence and ability.  ‘Remember when you…’ statements began to hover in the classroom and on the playground.  No objections to the stir of apathy or any efforts to continue their advancement were made by their teachers.  The teachers, discretely, also felt former low self-esteem had turned into ‘too much pride’ and that a child needed to grow socially and emotionally amongst their immediate peer group more so than advancing intellectually and as a whole.

Although deep within the child knew their growth was hard-earned and personally valued, the consistency of empathy for all was lacking and, subsequently, they determined it was more important to not ‘outshine’ others but to shine with others.

Can you decipher where empathy and sympathy went awry in this example?

<<Click here to learn more about the persons behind the Emotional Intelligence theory and its purpose>>

Let’s continue to invest in our children as whole beings – fueling their mind, body, and spirit.
Let’s do this!

Chat soon,

~Miss. Tamika

P.S.  Check out these resources to help you and your child discuss the topics surrounding emotional intelligence as well as suggested related activities:

BEFORE I GO…

– Check out our ARETEnrichment Studio!  Click here to explore our Studio of goodies.  Join our e-list to stay abreast of the release of new resources and more.

– Have you signed up for our monthly Excellence RULES Enrichment Packs?  These packs are the perfect option to help solidify your child’s in-class learning in a creative way.  Click here to register for next month’s pack.

– Stay tuned for more valuable posts to help make this year a success for you and your child…<<<catch up on prior posts here>>>

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