Back in 1996, Canadian educator Mary Gordon had a lofty goal: She wanted to create a more peaceful and caring society by working to build up the empathy of schoolchildren. And she thought that babies would be the program’s most effective “instructors.”  

Gordon’s classroom-based program, Roots of Empathy, gives students an ongoing, up close and personal opportunity to observe a baby’s development and use what they’ve learned to identify and reflect on their own feelings as well as the feelings of others.  

These two video clips show the Roots of Empathy program in action—and demonstrate how babies are some of our very best teachers.  

Gordon’s program is being used in schools worldwide and research documents its positive effects. Children who participated in these mixed-age classroom experiences developed a range of important skills such as resilience, executive functioning and emotional literacy just to name a few. (And, no surprise: These same students also showed increased academic proficiency.) 

We know that you want your children to develop important skills such as empathy, kindness and compassion. That’s why Music Together^® created opportunities for children to participate in mixed-age classes. We offer your children a fun, safe, and joyful place to interact across a range of ages while they foster a lifelong love of music.