As the saying goes, boys will be boys. Yelling and screaming, kicking and fighting have long seemed to be a part of childhood. As many a parent will contend any upset child is just a few tears away from a temper tantrum but the Roots of Empathy program is challenging this notion.

"Students who have Roots of Empathy have an increase in social skills and a decrease in aggression," said Wendie Bramwell, the liaison for the program in Seattle.

Roots of Empathy is a program designed to reduce aggression and bullying, increase social and emotional competence among children and increase empathy. It was brought to Seattle as part of the Seeds of Compassion initiative and through the help of local philanthropists. The Seeds of Compassion initiative was designed to increase citizen's thoughtfulness and collaboration with and for each other. As part of the Seeds of Compassion initiative, the Dalai Lama will be visiting Seattle in the spring.

The Roots of Empathy program started in 1996 by Mary Gordon, an internationally recognized educator and parenting expert, in Gordon's hometown of Toronto. In 2000 the program became a registered charity in Canada and the program expanded across all of Canada and internationally. Today the program has reached over 150,000 students in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and as of this year the United States.

The way Roots of Empathy works is fairly simple. An instructor comes in to the classroom once a week for the course of a school year and once every three weeks the instructor is accompanied by a local infant and the infant's parent. The infant is the heart of the program. Essentially, what the Roots of Empathy program does is it teaches children to better understand and articulate their feelings and the feelings of others by observing and working with the infant.

Infants are vulnerable, innocent and most importantly they can't talk. To understand what the baby is feeling you have to "actively empathize" said Lorelei Friesen, Communications Manager for Roots of Empathy.

"Vulnerability is appealing and it shows people can be vulnerable themselves," Friesen said.

Friesen said when she first started working for the Roots of Empathy program she sat in and observed a classroom lesson. On that particular day the class was discussing names and the meaning of names. A male student in the elementary class hesitantly revealed to his classmates that his name, Jamal, means beautiful in Arabic and the revelation was free of any snickering and teasing.

"I watched afterward to see if there was elbowing and giggling (at the revelation) and there was not," Friesen said.

Miriam Hirschstein is a Roots of Empathy instructor at John Stanford International School in Wallingford and admits she was skeptical about how enthusiastic the fifth grade students she instructs would be for some of the lessons. Hirschstein, who has a Ph.D. in educational psychology and is a Washington State licensed school psychologist, said she was especially skeptical about a lesson on diapering. To her surprise, the students were fully engaged in the lesson, openly questioning and discussing the benefits of cloth diapers versus plastic.

"I've been really impressed by how incredibly attractive a baby is," Hirschstein said, adding that this enthusiasm is especially remarkable in many of the prepubescent males.

Hirschstein recalled one incident when a boy from the class helped the mother, Michelle, carry the baby's diaper bag to her car. After carrying the bag for her, Michelle thanked the child and he replied to her that the gratitude wasn't necessary and that he just wanted to be around baby Elsa.

The infants in the program are between three and four months old when it first starts. Hirschstein said that because of the rapid development of a child at such a young age, it is especially exciting for the students. When Elsa was first brought into the classroom, just over a dozen weeks old, she still was extremely infantile, lying on her back with balled fists. Just a few weeks later on Elsa's next visit it was remarkable, Hirschstein said, watching the children around Elsa, now with her hands open and brighter eyed. She said the class was practically cheering at the advent of the baby rolling over. Aside from the programs seeming effectiveness, Hirschstein also said that it's really fun working with a baby and its mother.

Since its inception, the Roots of Empathy program has been researched by several Universities across Canada, Universities in Australia and New Zealand as well as the University of Missouri, St. Louis. The University of British Columbia has done the most research on the program and in one study concluded that 88 percent of elementary school students in first through third grade showed an overall decrease in aggression while 50 percent of students in the control group in the same study showed an increase in aggression. Similar findings had been made in older students and also in follow-up studies completed some few years after the students went through the program. This research has led British Columbia to include the program in all of the province's kindergarten classes.

Seattle is the first city in the United States to adopt the Roots of Empathy program. It has been implemented in 10 classrooms across King County at West Seattle Elementary, John Stanford International, Sacajawea Elementary in Northgate, Dearborn Park Elementary in Rainier Valley and Emerald Park Elementary in Kent. The Roots of Empathy program, which has been done in classes as old eighth grade, is being held in kindergarten through sixth grade classes in King County. The program is set to expand to 20 classes by 2008 and 30 by 2009.

Pat Brown may be reached via wseditor@robinsonnews.com