Empathy in toddlers starts here

I’m not sure it’s quite the emergence of empathy yet, but N’s starting to take a lot more notice of what other people are saying or doing.

He’s never really been that fussed about trying to copy other people’s actions, preferring to work things out himself.  But the last few days we’ve had manic laughter as soon as someone else starts laughing.  Really, I expect he has no idea what people are laughing at but it’s so funny to see.

This weekend, I had a stall at a baby & children’s market and Grandma was keeping an eye on him, taking him for a walk and playing with him in the soft play area there.  But they also had a magic show for the older children which was next to my stall.  He wasn’t really watching the show at all, but he was enthralled with watching the children in the audience.  Every time they laughed, he joined in.

He has also started being more aware of when other toddlers or babies are crying.  I’m presuming that it’s the start of the learning the emotional side about people, so it’ll be interesting to see what comes next.

When did you first notice empathy in your toddlers?