By Maaria Mozaffar

I always tell my children that I am not impressed by intelligence.

I know many smart people who have created dangerous circumstances for our world.

I also tell them that I respect hard work, but am not impressed by it because what really matters is what you are working towards. Is it your need for validation, or is it to learn and perfect a skill to help serve others? The latter is more valuable.

But there is one human attribute that I advise them is the most impressive to me as a parent: empathy. That unseen internal compass that leads to compassion for others. This attribute, like any other muscle, the heart and body, can be trained. Yet, only if we understand its value in the ecosystem of our world and the humanity in it.

First, let’s establish why the application is urgent and necessary.

In a world of digital echo chambers and children spending hours on social media, they are consuming information in a repetitive, affirming pattern.

The more they show a viewpoint or interest, the more they will move towards words, images and thoughts that keep them in the echo chamber within the digital media matrix. Following this formula, they will be introduced to others with similar interests and perhaps even backgrounds. This limits our children’s interactions with others with different interests and even different thought processes. In-person classroom interaction is now less than the time children spend interacting on platforms, video games, and chat rooms. And with the innovations of AI, these interactions can be manufactured even further. Digital high-fives serve the digital dopamine. This eventually distances children from having to navigate dissent within groupthink, making a child’s ability to relate to others challenging. As adults, this manifests as an inability to understand others, especially those who are different from you and in different circumstances, thus robbing one of the ability to empathize.

In 2025, hate crimes increased across the nation. Islamophobia, Antisemitism, Anti-Black, and Anti-Asian incidents all increased, and children are experiencing bullying online and in classrooms at younger ages.

Traditional school policies for these situations are usually designed to ignore and separate. This is counterproductive to growth. This does not teach the child to learn how harmful words and actions can be to other children. In other words, this does not allow children to understand others’ pain or empathize with those different from them. Perpetrators of hate crimes who are adults are often raised in environments where negative narratives about others were normalized.

Thus, the consistent overuse of technology as a replacement for in-person interaction and the rise of hate crimes among youth and adults across the nation point to one critical truth: Parents can’t pass the buck on teaching empathy.

So how do we do it? In these over-stimulated, noisy and overscheduled daily routines, it seems impossible. We must go back to basics.

Start with animals.

I always encouraged my kids to have a relationship with animals. You don’t have to be a pet owner. Still, you can introduce gentleness into your daily routine, such as noticing how a family of ducks swim together and play, how birds amazingly fly in a V as a family unit, or visiting a pet store for some playtime with little puppies.

This teaches children to see commonality among living beings that cannot speak, allowing them to see value in all living things.

Don’t forget to smell the flowers.

This sounds cliché, I know, but it’s true. Caring for living things and seeing beauty in nature shows children the cycle of life and the need for nurturing care. Children noticing your flowers are not getting the water they need shows them another way to see commonality and connects them to our earth at a fundamental level, which also shows them how we are caretakers of our planet.

Build curiosity about different cultures. 

Whether it’s reading a book, trying a new cuisine, or listening to music from a different culture, one can explore the world without traveling to appreciate cultural nuances and find commonalities among them.

Of course, if you can travel! Do!

Traveling across the globe is the best way to teach children about differences and the value of other cultures. This builds human empathy. It shows children’s perspectives and the diversity of religions, cultural practices, and histories.

Build relationships with people who are different from you. 

Children need to learn how much we are the same, even when we are so different. We all love children, want to do right by our loved ones, grieve when we lose and smile when we feel peace. Knowing that humanity connects us is one of the most powerful roles empathy can play.

It is really about going back to basics. Reconnecting as humans to nature, to animals, to others and ourselves. Empathy is the guiding tool, the muscle we can train and flex. And when things get difficult and divisive, it can do the heavy lifting to bring us back together.