Ti. tt -- Peiners Fer PYeS a Parents Ho Not To Raise A Bully (NAPSA)—Bullying is a problem that has a lot of parents orried. According to a recent Harris survey, 67 percent of parents of 3to 7-year-olds orry that their children ill be bullied. Bullying damages the physical, social and emotional ell-being of its victims. It also hurts the children ho bully, as ell as those ho atch it happen. Fortunately, encouraging empathy in young children can discourage such behavior. Empathy is defined as the ability to put oneself in another person’s shoes and recognize and respond to hatthat personis feeling. Building empathy helps children to consider other people’s feelings and offer expressions of understanding. It can be as simple as giving a hug,getting a toel to help clean up a spill, or sharing a box of crayons ith a friend. “The early years of life appear to be critical for the developmentof children’s sympathy and caring behavior,” said Dr. Nancy Eisenberg, Regents’ professor of psychology and editor of Child Development Perspectives. “Children ho attend to and respond to others’ distress and need in the late preschool years are morelikely to be caring and helpful people in adolescence and early adulthood. Thus, it is critical that parents and teachers be aare of ays that they can foster their children’s positive behaviors early in life.” The 24-hour preschool television channel Sprout has designed The early years of life are critical for the development of empathy. a campaign to help. “Kindness Counts” supports the development of empathy in preschoolers by promoting small acts of kindness that matter big. The long-term campaign includes a series of PSAs, digital and social media components and programming tie-ins ith the ultimate goal of logging 1 million acts of kindness across the country. Parents are encouraged to visit .SproutOnline.com to add their child’s act of kindness to the Kindness Counter. Select acts are highlighted on the air during the channel’s live morning sho, “The Sunny Side Up Sho.” Parents can also find articles and expert advice on the value and importance of developing empathy in youngchildren.
