Teaching Humanity Remotely with Dr. Mindy Shaw – Ep 11

In my latest podcast episode, number 11 in my series, we start off by talking about the educational goal of developing our children into good, contributing citizens.   We want our children to develop positive character and be young people who learn that decency matters as well as good character.  Since we are what we teach children, we need to continue to teach our children to have the qualities that demonstrate decency and good character.

Turning the conversation to one of the lessons of good character, we examine one of the important topics covered in my series of children’s picture books for social and emotional learning, the feeling of being SORRY.    In my book titled, SORRY, Olivia and Min Min learn that if we are truly sorry, we need to change our behavior that made us sorry.  Having good character means that your actions match your words, and if a child or an adult simply says, “I’m sorry,” but doesn’t demonstrate remorse by changing their behavior, then the words “sorry” are simply that, just words.   It’s important to teach that this kind of lip service, including unengaged apologies, isn’t honest.

I take a few moments in this podcast to actually read through the SORRY book, so while these podcasts are often speaking mostly to parents and educators, this is a chance to have the children listen in as we go through the book, its dialogue and its talking points.   By the way, all of my children’s books for social and emotional learning end with discussion points so that the conversation can continue in depth after the reading of the short story.

As we mentioned in our last podcast on GOOD SPORTSMANSHIP, often, the lessons that are learned at a young age and the character and qualities that children develop early will carry with them throughout their entire lives.  Understanding what it truly means to be sorry and to actually change one’s behavior to have your actions match your words is so important, and I have always taught that in my classroom.   SORRY is another one of my favorite stories in my book series because it’s an important bit of nonfiction to which children should be exposed.  The paperbacks and e-books in my series of socio-emotional picture books are all here on this website under the books tab, and they were all created to help busy parents have the tools and the language to support social and emotional learning at home or in schools… it’s my way of continuing to be of service in the field of education.