Helping young children to show a range of feelings and sensitivity to the needs, views and feelings of others is an important part of the Early Years Foundation Stage. It can feel difficult in practice to do this in a meaningful way, however, especially when those 'others' concerned are on the far side of the world.
The terrible earthquake in Haiti seems to have touched a chord in quite young children, moving them to want to understand the tragedy and do what they can to help. With sensitive handling by practitioners, this can be turned into a wonderful opportunity for fostering empathy in children here and providing practical help for those caught up in distant events.
This was certainly the experience of Tessa Fenoughty, foundation stage teacher in a County Durham primary school, as she relates in 'Helping Others', pages 18-19. Tessa's children showed a huge interest in what was going on in Haiti, took part in a wide range of research and related activities and organised and ran a fundraising coffee morning for parents and carers so that they could send money for the survivors. Most importantly, the children were able to imagine what the victims were thinking, feeling and needing.
Feelings are also the theme of this week's article by Marion Dowling in her series on well-being (pages 14-16), in which she explains how to help children feel safe, loved and valued, become aware of their own feelings and then be able to empathise with others.
Good practice like this is hard to quantify in terms of scores on a tick sheet, but it can do more to support young children to develop as individuals and as part of society than just about anything else.