Episode Details

We discuss a blog by Gayle Allen and Deborah Farmer Kris called “Why It’s Important To Teach Empathy To Boys”. They define empathy as the ability to sense other people’s emotions coupled with the ability to imagine what someone else might be thinking or feeling.  How does this relate to parenting?  We discuss three benefits of raising an empathetic child:

• It breeds courage- this will help your child stand up for those in need of help.
• It breeds happiness- it gives our children the ability to have stronger interpersonal connections, and are more eager to collaborate, effectively negotiate, demonstrate compassion, and offer support.
• It breeds thoughtful problem solving. Empathic problem solvers put themselves in others’ shoes in a way that allows them to design solutions to problems that will help us evolve.

We follow up on our talk from last week’s podcast about the Hobby Lobby Supreme Court decision. Todd also shares a few “tricks” or “reminders” to reduce the possibility of forgetting your child in the back of a car during the warm summer months.

Cathy also shares 3 things that content people do:

1. Differentiating between feelings, thoughts, and me
2. Practice what you want instead of talking about what you want
3. Live in present time

We also refer to a previous podcast titled, “She was cut from her soccer team (what she did next might surprise you)”  which is a wonderful example of how our children are here to teach us.

Do you know any parents that are polite and gentle with you while at the same time are nasty and cruel towards their children?  We ask the question- why is this okay? We refer to this podcast – “Speaking down to children and lessons from “Frozen”

Finally we answer a listener’s question about how to get started on a more conscious path.

Other resources:

Come see us @ Green Fair on the Fox in Batavia, IL on Saturday, August 9th from 9:00-3:00 @ Peg Bond Center 151 N Island Ave

Click the following links to purchase Cathy’s books The Self-Aware Parent Part 1  & and Part 2

Click here to find her blog, and click here to find her Chicago Parent column.

Todd has a few spots opening for his Men’s Group.  Email me @ comments@zenpa