Choosing Empathy

Choosing Empathy

Jun 11

Mom, as the family communication center, is more than just dispatching.  She is also the receiver and processor of family information.  She has the ability to be the most empathetic to her children.  Empathy is defined as, the ability to identify with and understand somebody else’s feelings or difficulties.  It goes a step deeper than sympathy.  It means hurting when someone else hurts.   Moms have the awesome ability to do this because of the deep bond she has with her children.  She has an ability to hear between the words.

This is something that some busy moms might need to get better at; especially as our kids get older and hurt us.  Moms can get more callous and begin to lose the willingness to empathize with their situations.  Empathy can be a choice.  We have to can choose to put ourselves in their shoes and feel what they are feeling.

Empathy starts by listening.  Not hearing but truly listening to what our children are saying, what they are feeling.  Everyone can heart he noise of a baby crying but the baby’s mom can sense what the cry is about … she listens past the noise. It takes time to read between the lines of what our teens are saying … to get to the root of what they are feeling.    There is no one else on this earth that can or will offer our kids this level of understanding or compassion.