Empathy on the Supreme Court - and Beyond

Learning Life Skills Early

May 08, 2009
bubble 2 comments
Submitted by: Paula Schwed

Empathy - it's not just for Supreme Court justices. President Obama considers this essential trait to be one of the qualifications for whomever he nominates to the highest court in the land. Author Daniel Goleman, who popularized the "Emotional Intelligence" term in a bestselling book, quotes UCLA child psychiatrist Dr. Daniel Siegel as saying empathy is one of the "essential human abilities we should be teaching every child." Of course these social and emotional life skills can be taught and practiced. What we also know from research and from social and emotional learning programs like WINGS is that reaching kids in the early years to develop such capabilities helps them find happiness and success - on the Supreme Court and everywhere else.

Related topics: Teaching life skills, Daniel Goleman's blog, free social skills activities

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Practice makes....empathetic

On May 12th, 2009 Liz Mester says:
This post does not come as a surprise to me - Obama's success stems from his ablility to be empathetic and step into so many different people's shoes. He can be hip at basketball games, comforting at town hall meetings and resilient in the face of critics. Of course he requires the people he surrounds himself with to exhibit some of the same skills he lives. For those of us who need to practice our ability to be more like Obama when it comes to empathy - there's WINGS. Through Hot WINGS and Heart Charts, WINGS makes it easy to put social and emotional learning into practice. Since I've been working for WINGS, I've noticed that not only do I use the word empathy more in my vocabulary, I've begun to think about, understand it's role and use it in a way that surprises me. I sure hope practice makes perfect.

The year 2000 and ME

On May 10th, 2009 cristy mccrery says:
Empathy is a hard trait to acquire. When you get caught up in your own emotions, it's hard to step into the shoes of another person. We live in a world where it's 2000 and me. There are many people who only think of themselves and how they're affected by something. I think it's great President Obama is making it a requirement that the Supreme Court justices are social and emotionally intelligent. That position requires heart smart.