Educate in empathy to fight against bullying

Bullying has become a point to address in the field of education. Ending these practices is a matter for teachers, parents and their peers. Many are the tools proposed to reduce the rates registered within this problematic situation, such as the one suggested by the Spanish Association of Mindfulness.

A proposal that takes shape in the project Conscious Schools where education is suggested based on empathy and the development of cognitive skills, both in the school and in the family. Being able to manage emotions, on the part of the victims, know how to recognize their pain and let them know to the people close to them and in the stalkers in order to understand the evil they do to their companions.


Emotional regulation

The objective of this emotional education is the regulation of one's feelings. For this the program suggests four fundamental points through which to achieve this management emotional:

- Focus. The training in attention directly affects the improvement of perception, the ability to concentrate, resistance to distractions and perseverance and clarity in the objectives.

- Calm. With the stability of attention, self-awareness and an open attitude of curiosity and acceptance, calm and serenity are achieved. It increases the resistance to stressors and the ability to respond instead of reacting automatically in difficult situations.


- Compassion. It is the specific training in the affective aspect of Mindfulness. It is about teaching students, parents and teachers to develop kindness, tenderness, care and affection for themselves, especially when they perceive that they fail, fail, lose or feel inadequate. Specific exercises are used to develop the unconditional acceptance of oneself and others.

- Connection. It is derived from previous skills and is born from a sense of equality and interconnection with life and with others (concept of Shared Humanity.) With this work an improvement in personal relationships is achieved by cultivating the qualities of empathy, support, help and cooperation with other children and with adults.

The final objective is to make understand that frustration and other negative feelings in the smallest must be channeled in other ways. Instead of punishing their peers to solve these problems, they must learn to manage their emotions.


Work on empathy

This program is not the first that affects the importance of empathy in the fight against bullying. From the Foundation for Assistance to Children and Adolescents at Risk, ANAR, it is proposed to work on this skill. This organism points out these points as the most important for this teaching:

- Empathy favors satisfactory personal relationships and helps us understand the needs and feelings of others.

- There is a relationship between minor aggressors and difficulty in putting oneself in the place of the other.

- It is easier to attack a person regardless of how they feel or the repercussions that those acts are having on the other.

For these purposes, teachers and family members can work in the following fields:

- Identify and recognize different emotions in themselves and in others, as well as talk about them.

- Getting children to respect the feelings, opinions and needs of others.

- Teach them to listen actively showing interest in others.

Damián Montero

Video: Dealing with Bullies:Breaking Down Bullies Through Empathy


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