Empathy

On Restoring the Family Radio Ministry, Stan and Cynthia Shelby discuss the importance of teaching children empathy as a core family value. Along with honesty, respect, accountability, and gratitude, empathy helps children develop strong character and healthy relationships.

Empathy teaches children to recognize other people’s feelings, listen with understanding, and care about experiences beyond their own. It encourages unselfishness and helps children understand that the world is not just about their needs but also about the needs of others.

Empathy offers several important benefits:

• Stronger relationships: Children learn to connect with family, friends, and classmates.
• Better social interactions: Empathy encourages cooperation, sharing, and kindness while helping reduce bullying.
• Tolerance and acceptance: Children learn to welcome people who are different or feel excluded.
• Emotional well-being: Understanding emotions helps children navigate stressful situations.
• Future success: Empathy supports healthy relationships and stronger social connections throughout life.

Stan and Cynthia explain that empathy is often taught through everyday actions rather than formal lessons. Children observe how parents treat others, respond to hardship, and demonstrate kindness.

Cynthia recalls how her daughter would invite classmates who had no one to sit with at lunch to join her table. Seeing her daughter show compassion reminded Cynthia that the values she had modeled were becoming part of her child’s character.

Stan also reflects on an older woman who helped raise him and taught him to treat people with kindness, accept others, and look for opportunities to brighten someone’s day.

These experiences demonstrate that parents, grandparents, teachers, and mentors can have a lasting influence on children’s character. When children struggle to demonstrate these values, parents have an opportunity to provide additional guidance and reinforce important lessons.

Scripture offers several examples of compassion that parents can use to teach children about empathy.

• Jesus weeps at Lazarus’s tomb (John 11:32–35): Although Jesus knew He would raise Lazarus, He shared in the grief of Mary and those mourning. His example teaches us to acknowledge others’ pain rather than dismissing their feelings.
• Jesus shows compassion to the crowds (Matthew 9:36): Jesus recognized the people’s distress and helplessness, demonstrating concern for their struggles.
• Jesus comforts a grieving widow (Luke 7:11–15): When Jesus encountered a widow mourning her only son, He responded with compassion and raised her son to life.
• God hears the Israelites’ cries (Exodus 3:7–8): God saw their suffering in Egypt and acted to deliver them.
• The Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30–37): The Samaritan crossed social boundaries to care for an injured traveler, showing that compassion should extend to people from different backgrounds.

Other passages reinforce these lessons. Romans 12:15 encourages believers to rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn. Hebrews 4:15 describes Jesus as understanding human weaknesses, while 1 Peter 3:8 calls believers to demonstrate sympathy, love, tenderness, and humility.

Together, these Scriptures teach that empathy involves recognizing suffering, sharing in others’ emotions, and responding with practical compassion.

Cynthia emphasizes the importance of teaching children to serve rather than simply expect to be served. She remembers her mother preparing meals for grieving families and explains how she continued that tradition by attending visitations and expressing condolences with her own children.

She also observed how serving food and showing kindness to people experiencing homelessness helped her children develop greater compassion.

These experiences teach children that caring for others requires action. Parents can encourage empathy by helping children welcome someone who feels excluded, comfort a friend who is hurting, share with others, or participate in age-appropriate acts of service.

Such opportunities help children develop humility, gratitude, generosity, and an understanding that everyone deserves dignity and kindness.

Stan and Cynthia encourage parents to observe how their children treat others and respond to what they receive. A child’s willingness to share, welcome newcomers, express gratitude, and help someone in need can offer insight into how family values are taking root.

When children demonstrate compassion, parents can affirm their behavior. When they struggle, parents can use those moments to reteach and model the desired response.

Character development takes time, and empathy remains a lifelong lesson for both children and adults.

Teaching empathy helps children build stronger relationships, accept differences, manage emotions, and recognize the needs of others. For Christian families, biblical examples provide a meaningful foundation for practicing compassion and serving others.

Parents can teach empathy through everyday actions, consistent guidance, and opportunities to help people in need. By modeling kindness and reinforcing values such as honesty, respect, accountability, and gratitude, parents can help children grow into caring, responsible adults.

Stan and Cynthia Shelby remind us that children often reflect the values they see practiced around them. When families make empathy part of everyday life, they help create a lasting legacy of compassion, service, and love.

Thank you for joining Stan and Cynthia Shelby on Restoring the Family Radio Ministry. Visit the Restoring the Family website to listen to podcast replays and join future discussions about strengthening families.