Big Families Can Help Your Empathy
While not really a story of a big brood itself, this story about a pediatrician who is a father to a big brood does talk about how a big brood can help you to be more sensitive. I have certainly experienced this in my own life. I’m naturally pretty self-centered but when you have 2-3 voices at a time needing something, you tend to learn that you might not be center of the universe.
Quoting the article:
“I’m a pediatrician. I practice what I preach.” Having a large family helps him understand what his patients are going through, he added.
“When you have seven children, you probably have seen it all - from tantrums to trouble sleeping. Your empathy level is more aware.”
His philosophy as a pediatrician is to treat each child as if that child were his own, Schaefer said.
“If you treat people (of all ages) how you would like to be treated, in general things go fairly well.”
While a smaller family can give you a lot of great experiences I have to say that I’m constantly amazed at the range of personalities that we have in our own house.
April 1st, 2008 at 9:12 am
I completely agree with this. I don’t have a big family myself but I have watched the shows on big families that Discovery health often has and I am always touched by how every member of the family seems in tune with the rest of the members. I think in a society where it seems the thought “me first” is prevalent is very touching to find families where the needs of someone else are usually above your own and the members of the family are OK with that.
April 1st, 2008 at 9:16 am
Welcome and thanks for your comment!
I certainly have a tendency toward “me first” myself, but my goslings don’t let me get away with it too long. Fortunately, they’re so darn cute that I’m happy to have the lesson.
I’ll have to see if I can check out some of those Discovery shows. We haven’t had cable for a long time.