Compassionate Education Should Begin At Home
As part of parenting process, children are being groomed in basic manners and etiquettes, habit formation, value formation, character building, attitude building and overall personality development. Beyond academic learning at educational institutions, in parenting process the parents should give much importance to compassionate education at home.
Compassionate education can be given in the form of caring the companion animals at home as well as feeding the homeless animals in our neighborhood surroundings. While taking care of companion animals and homeless animals, the children will undergo the four stages in the process of compassionate education.
The first stage is “cognitive stage” which involves an awareness of suffering. In this stage, the children will acquire some knowledge and information about animals like it’s food habits, life cycle, behaviors and sufferings. By gaining awareness in this cognitive stage, it enlarges their horizon of animal world and it’s sufferings.
These awakened children will move towards the second stage known as “affective stage” which involves a sympathetic concern related to being emotionally moved by suffering. In this second stage, the children are being moved from knowing stage (cognitive stage) to feeling stage (affective stage).
The emotionally moved second stage children will move to the third stage known as “intentional stage” which involves a wish to see the relief of that suffering. In this third stage, the emotionally moved children will get an intention to do something to relieve it from the suffering. Here the children are being moved from feeling stage (affective stage) to aiming stage (intentional stage).
After having aimed to do something for the suffering, the children will move towards the fourth stage known as “motivational stage” which involves a responsiveness or readiness to help relieve that suffering that may eventually give rise to cooperative and altruistic behavior (compassionate behavior).
The children who are cultivating this compassionate behavior by parenting guidance, will be moulded or shaped as more positive, humane, helping, supportive, understanding, feeling, involving, responding, considerate, caring, sympathetic, empathetic, lovable, creative, innovative, concerning and mindful.
The overall personality of the children, which is embedded with the qualities of compassionate behavior, will develop the children as more strong (strong self-esteem), vibrant, balanced, assertive, decisive, leading, action-oriented, meaningful, peaceful and successful in the present and future. They would be able to strike a balance between personal and career life. They will live their life fully as more meaningful and successful. These children will always be away from all type of psychological disorders.
Vice President - SCAN FOUNDATION
mahendran@voiceforanimals.info
--- SCHOOL OF COMPASSION STUDIES---
