Babies teach empathy in GHSD schools

By Kristin Harriman Roots of Empathy program instructor

It’s 1 p.m., I have 15 minutes before my five-month-old grasps every fibre of attention inside the 24 Grade 5 students. Her tiny teacher T-shirt is on, her diaper is dry, she is currently happy and we are off. As much excitement is seeping out from under the 5A classroom door as there is intrigue in baby’s eyes.
Roots of Empathy is currently being taught throughout the Golden Hills School Division. The program is made up of nine themes aimed at teaching students from Grades K to 8 how to be more empathetic toward one another. A volunteer instructor sees the kids three times per theme, but the real teacher – the baby – comes on the second visit of each theme. A small helpless infant in a white T-shirt, with only innocence as their asset.
The entire program shows students how to be empathetic to one another using a baby as the teacher. How communication comes in more than words, how emotions are presented in more than facial expressions, how sleep is a major factor in our entire lives, that each individual has nine temperament traits that develop at an early age, and so much more. The baby will come to the classroom nine times throughout the year and each time there are different aims to be taught, but always using the same baby and same welcoming environment.
Roots of Empathy was developed by Mary Gordon in 1996. It is in 13 countries on three continents across the world and has impacted the lives of nearly a million children, many of those within our community. Debbie Fule of École Brentwood Elementary has been fortunate to host the Roots of Empathy program in her classroom for many years. She has seen past students become mothers and babies become students, and watched her classroom evolve into a Petri dish of empathy.
Each student will come to the program with their own backgrounds and experiences. Some have babies in their family, others have never witnessed a diaper change, or spit up. Each milestone the students witness teaches them the aims of the program.
It’s the end of the 45-minute session; there were no tears and no dirty diapers, but lots of “oh look what she can do, listen to her make noise, oh my gosh she can sit up!” The excitement quickly comes to an end as the students sing the goodbye song, saying “they will see you soon” as they each touch the tiny toes of their teacher in hopes of one last smile.