How Reading Develops Empathy

 “So Matilda’s strong young mind continued to grow, nurtured by the voices of all those authors who had sent their books out into the world like ships on the sea. These books gave Matilda a hopeful and comforting message: You are not alone.” 

-Roald Dahl

Image by Pexels from Pixabay 

As a young girl I was constantly reading whatever I could. I learned to read English when I was nine. My mom would go to night school and bring back her Side-by-Side Workbooks, I'd open them and devour each word I learned. I was excited every time she came back with a new workbook, and would right away sprawl out on the floor to explore it. I was not a great reader, in fact I was slow and by 9^th grade I was reading at a 5^th grade level. However, I loved stories, and still do.

I stopped reading for a while but three years ago I made a commitment to read more, to read at least ten books a year. Aside from falling behind in my vocabulary and writing when I don’t read, I truly miss it. Now that I have been keeping up with my reading I’ve rekindled my romance with stories. I’m connecting with those characters that need someone to connect to.

I believe reading stories not only develops our imagination and creativity, but it helps people understand others and empathize with them. I understand that fictional stories are that: fiction. That does not mean that people do not experience the emotions that the characters experience. Through these stories we feel empathy for strangers who are living a life we have never experienced. It puts us in the character’s shoes. 

That is one of the reasons why reading to children from a very young age is so important. Toddlers are at the age where they are egocentric. They are starting to learn to socialize, and reading stories that they can relate to and put them in other’s shoes will help develop empathy.

Reading is one childhood love that I haven’t outgrown, and never will. What child does not love stories?

I wonder how many people out there still enjoy reading, and what kind of stories do you enjoy the most?