A public school outside Washington D.C. is taking a unique approach to combating bullying in schools by exposing students to an unusual instructor -babies.
Muary Elementary School has partnered with a Canadian group called 'Roots of Empathy' that brings mothers and their young babies into classrooms to teach kids about empathy.
According to the Roots of Empathy website, classrooms have time every month with the same baby, spending time with him or her throughout the entire school year. As the students and babies interact, a Roots of Empathy instructor labels the baby's feelings and reactions, helping the kids name and better understand their own feelings.
Students can see that if they're kind to the baby, it will laugh and smile. If they're cruel or aggressive, the baby will cry or turn away.
As students learn more about their own feelings and emotions, they develop emotional literacy. The program teaches that better emotional literacy leads to more empathy in children, and more empathy for others leads to less bullying.
October is Anti-Bullying month.
