COLUMN: Carillon Flashback December 3, 2001 – Students learning from infants in Roots of Empathy program

Seine River School Division has implemented a program to combat bullying and teach compassion at each of its schools. At a November press conference at Ile des Chenes School, the division was handed $25,000 for the Roots of Empathy program, which is a pilot project.

At the conference, division officials, politicians, teachers, students, mothers and babies, as well as a small crowd of reporters, were introduced to program founder Mary Gordon.

Gordon works for the Toronto District School Board. She participated in former U.S. Vice President Al Gore’s Family Conference in June 1999 and presented the Roots of Empathy program to the World Health Organization last year.

“Our children are harbingers of goodwill, and in this program, we are seeing compassion flourish.”

Gordon said schools have a remarkable capacity to positively affect children’s outcomes beyond the three ‘R’s. Every classroom is a microcosm of society. Social problems are not created in schools, but are inherited. Schools didn’t create violence.

A Roots of Empathy class consists of the students getting together with a baby and its mother, as well as a certified instructor, who handles the baby and asks the students questions about its behavior.

Fascinating interaction and observations are made by the students as they answer the questions, such as “Why does the baby cry?” The students respond with physical factors such as “They’re wet, or hungry, or tired.”

Gordon has reported many students can sense when the baby is feeling lonely or scared. This new awareness, in turn, is then applied to their friends and classmates – asking them to take the responsibility of including their fellow students in all aspects at school.

Aside from the hands-on aspect of the classes, students also study infant development and safety.

The three dimensional aspect includes an opportunity for the student to pack a diaper bag, hold a baby properly, unfold a diaper, offer a toy, play with the baby, sing to the baby, and ask the parent(s) questions.

Ile des Chenes School principal Jacquie Dion said she loves the program so much she became a certified Roots of Empathy instructor.

“The children are really on board with this; they look forward to the classes and they think it’s great,” Dion said.

When the mother and baby have to leave they ask, “When can we do Roots again?”

Since Seine River is the only division in Canada where Roots of Empathy is being offered, its results will be included in a major national evaluation by McMaster University.

– with files from Michelle LaBelle