To forgive or not... how we can teach children the art of forgiveness

Forgiveness is one of those emotional skills that we must learn and teach our children but it’s definitely not an easy one to teach, let alone practice.

Offering some help, scientists have outlined a few tried-and-tested ways to help children learn the art of forgiveness.

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Based on interviews with 185 children, researchers found that teaching children to understand other people's perspectives could make it easier for them to learn how to forgive other people. A good starting point is getting kids to explain the rationale behind their actions and how this might make other people feel, explained the team.

Published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, the study also found that teaching children to make sincere apologies can help them receive forgiveness from others. Children are also more likely to forgive someone if they are part of their ‘group’ or friend circle.

All in all, building empathy and apologising meaningfully helps children in learning forgiveness.

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