Boston Children’s Museum has a new empathy initiative
The Boston Globe · Kara Baskin ·
Their empathy initiative goes beyond typical exhibits.
The Boston Children’s Museum in Fort Point occupies a unique niche in Boston civic life. Welcoming around 430,000 visitors a year, it’s a place for kids to explore and let loose. But it’s also a vehicle for education around character development that resource-strapped schools (and busy parents) might not be able to offer.
Their current priority? Empathy. The museum is in the midst of a years-long empathy initiative, Empathy at the Heart, where kids learn to consider other people’s perspectives through a variety of hands-on exercises and exhibits. It comes at a pivotal time, when the country is on the cusp of political change; pressure around academics and college admissions is high; and polarization abounds.
“I do think it’s fair to say that empathy has always been critically important but is perhaps more important at this moment,” says Melissa Higgins, the museum’s president and CEO. “Understanding someone else’s perspective is a critical life skill, and maybe that hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves over some period of time.”
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