Empathy

Empathy is the ability to imagine how someone else is feeling in a particular situation and respond with care. This is a very complex skill to develop. Being able to empathize with another person means that a child:
Understands that he is a separate individual, his own person;
Understands that others can have different thoughts and feelings than he has;
Recognizes the common feelings that most people experience—happiness, surprise, anger, disappointment, sadness, etc.;
Is able to look at a particular situation (such as watching a peer saying good-bye to a parent at child care) and imagine how he—and therefore his friend—might feel in this moment; and
Can imagine what response might be appropriate or comforting in that particular situation—such as offering his friend a favourite toy or teddy bear to comfort her.