Guest Editorial 230: May 2018

Harnessing the power of stories to build empathy

Miranda McKearny, EmpathyLab

Our children are growing up in a society with a worrying, and growing, empathy deficit, marked by a rise in hate crimes, cyberbullying and an increasingly divisive public discourse. Our pressurised education system emphasises individual success, not the common good.

How can we break through this to a better future? EmpathyLab believes that the rising generation is our greatest hope, and that helping every single child develop empathy skills would be a powerful long term antidote to hatred and division.

Books and empathy

Excitingly, neuroscientists are discovering that reading is a potent empathy-building tool. As we read, our brains are tricked into thinking we’re genuinely part of the story, and the empathic emotions we feel for characters in books develops our sensitivity towards real people.

EmpathyLab provides tools and training for adults living and working with children. These help them harness the power of stories to build children’s empathy and literacy skills and their social activism.

Empathy Day, 12 June

EmpathyLab has experimented with a range of interventions, including a national Empathy Day. This was piloted very successfully in 2017 and is now an annual event. The Day focuses on using books to build understanding and connections between us all, and on inspiring a new national conversation about empathy’s importance. The calls to action are:

• READ – because reading in itself can make us more empathetic
• SHARE – because sharing books on Empathy Day can connect us in new ways
• DO – put empathy into action and make a difference in your community

Everyone is being encouraged to use the hashtag #ReadforEmpathy to join in a massive social media campaign to identify and share empathy-boosting book recommendations. Parents and teachers can use a 2018 Read for Empathy Guide to find potent contemporary literature for 4-11 year olds.

Across the country, communities are celebrating Empathy Day in different ways:

• 4 library services (Devon, Essex, St Helens and Sheffield) are piloting a special project which involves local people in identifying which issues in their community would be helped by more empathy. Authors including Sita Brahmachari, Bali Rai, Gillian Cross and Helen Moss will lead special Empathy Day activities on the communities’ chosen issues of loneliness and inter-generational connections*
• Children at EmpathyLab’s 14 pioneer schools are making Empathy Awards to book characters which have shown, or elicited, exceptional empathy. Visiting authors including Robin Stevens and Joseph Coelho will announce the winners and lead empathy-focused workshops.
• 37 library services are running activities including empathy-focused book recommendation displays, rhyme times, reading groups, author events and discussion forums. Some are piloting activities such as Swap Your Reading Life and Empathy Pledges.

How to join in

 Absolutely everyone can join in Empathy Day by sharing ideas on social media, using #ReadForEmpathy. If you want to mount your own activities, take a look at the toolkits and resources at www.empathylab.uk. There are lots of ideas for big or small things, for instance:

• Swap Your Reading Life – find someone very different to you to swap a book with, and then talk about it on Empathy Day, using the occasion to connect to someone at a deeper level.
• Empathy Walls: schools, libraries and workplaces can create visual display areas, Empathy Walls, as a focal point to gather people together to talk about the books that have really helped them understand someone else.
• Empathy glasses: children can download and make their own Empathy Glasses, used to really concentrate on the feelings of book characters
• Put empathy into action: make an Empathy Promise, and put empathy into action in homes, workplaces and communities. Download a pledge card at empathylab.uk and share on social media.

Five top tips

• Learning more about empathy: even very young children can learn the meaning and importance of empathy. This Sesame Street video is a great help: gl/zfrah1. Adults wanting to know more could read Peter Bazalgette’s The Empathy Instinct, and parents will find Michelle Borba’s Unselfie invaluable.
• Talking about books: research shows that identifying with characters’ emotions helps us understand other people better. So when talking with children about a book, try focusing on the characters more than the plot.
• Asking great questions: which open up a deep dialogue and treat children as equals – “which character interested you most?”; “ I wonder how the character felt?”
• Helping children recognise and name feelings: as you talk, pick up on new words for emotions and share what they mean for wordless picture books. They’re a powerful way to help children dig deeper into feelings and experiences which build empathy
• Putting empathy into action: empathy is a big factor in inspiring us to take action to make the world a better place. Look for books with themes which inspire children to become social activists, like Sita Brahmachari’s Tender Earth

Find out more

Register at info@empathylab for Empathy Day information and tools

Follow @EmpathyLabUK and www.empathylab.uk for regular updates

Schools and libraries interested in partnering EmpathyLab should contact miranda@empathylab.uk