Developing "roots of empathy" in young children

The tragic and horrible events of what happened in the elementary school shooting in Connecticut have been on my mind constantly during the past few days.  In my profession as an early childhood educator and childcare center director, I am weighed down with the worry of protecting these children by not only providing a safe, loving and educational environment for the children in my care, but I also worry how I can help these little ones develop empathy and emotional maturity so that they too can be a positive influence on others.  What causes children, who are innately good and loving, to become aggressive, violent beings who would be capable of hurting or even taking a human life. From my coursework assigned readings, I learned about a program called "Roots of Empathy."  This program sounded fascinating to me, so I looked up their website and was very impressed with their mission, "To build caring, peaceful, and civil societies through the development of empathy in children and adults."  The goals of this program are essentially the same goals we want for all children living in this world of escalating violence and diminishing social morality:  to develop empathy for others; reduce levels of violence, aggression and bullying and promote children's pro-social behavior; to prepare students to be responsible citizens and responsive adults.  What better world would we live in if all people had empathy for others?  These angel children who lost their lives on Friday will not be able to have a future of "what ifs"....  let's do all we can to help the children in our care learn empathy and love for others so that they have a future built of caring, peaceful and civil societies.

 "The children light the footpath to the future.”
 - Mary Gordon, Founder/President, Roots of Empathy

Here is the link for the "Roots of Empathy" website:
http://www.rootsofempathy.org/