PW invited parents of Tatva Global School, Hyderabad to share insights on how they inculcate compassion in their children

“Instilling compassion is essential to nurture empathetic human beings. My elder daughter Samyuktha K. (class III) is a prolific reader and what she reads substantially shapes her thoughts and opinions. Therefore, we decided to buy her Dealing with Feelings by Soni Mehta to help her explore her emotions. My younger daughter Saanvitha (PP-II), starkly different, seeks clarity in every situation making it imperative for me to explain the consequences of an action and model the values we want to instill in her. — Sowmya Sree Venuturupalli, EVS teacher at Tatva Global School

“To ensure Ayrah (class I) grows up to become a caring and compassionate human being, we try to be her role models as we believe it’s important to demonstrate caring and kindness through our own actions. Teaching her to treat others as she wants them to treat her is a valuable life lesson she has learnt. Practising kindness within family and peers comes naturally to her now. According to her, even plants and animals have feelings and we should not hurt them” — Srijana Sapkota, English teacher, Tatva Global School 

“Like the Dalai Lama, I also believe love and compassion are the essence of human life. To instill these values in my daughters Dheeksha (class IX) and Saakshi (class V), our first lesson to them was on tolerant behaviour. We started treating them with respect, coaching them to pay attention at all times and hone their listening skills, and encouraged them to accept life’s successes as well as its failures. We also encourage them to work collaboratively and praise them for any joint effort avoiding any point of conflict between them” — Ranjani Subramanian, primary teacher, Tatva Global School

“It takes the combined effort of parents and teachers to inculcate empathetic behaviour in children. When children watch adults being kind and compassionate towards others, they start mimicing their behaviour. One day my son Mokshith (pre primary I) saw me comforting his cousin crying over a lost toy. It wasn’t long before he replaced it with a toy of his own. Just goes to show how positive role-modeling plays a key role in inculcating compassion in children” — Madhavi Avirneni, assistant teacher, Tatva Global School