By Edgar Garcia
The RedRover Readers RGV have embarked on a journey of emotional education for children in the Rio Grande Valley through their mission to teach kids empathy, what it looks like and how to best express it.
The RedRover Readers RGV is an offshoot of the RedRovers, an organization that rescues animals and helps them find new homes. Readers specifically use stories of animals to help teach students the value of empathy.
The organization started by sponsoring the training of two UTRGV staff members, Lecturer of Health Professions Janet Martinez and Professor of Social Work Catherine Faver, to teach children in the area empathy to combat an apparent lack of it after the COVID 19 pandemic.
Martinez would speak on what the program is made up of and what it teaches kids.
“It’s a social emotional learning program that uses animal stories and discussion to foster empathy and other positive social skills such as self awareness, self management, social awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision skills,” Martinez said.
Faver spoke briefly on why developing these empathy skills with animals can expand the children’s other emotional abilities and teach them empathy for others.
“There is a whole body of research, it’s been out there for quite some time and it just keeps growing about the connection between animal abuse and interpersonal violence,” Faver said. “When they learn about being kind to animals they learn about being kind to people,”.
Martinez also spoke on how these emotional skills are lacking right now and how little is being done to reinforce them.
“We’ve seen how it truly addresses certain skills that are barely being touched on in the schools. After the quarantine we noticed that students needed to reinforce those social skills, how to communicate with others, how to put themselves in someone else’s shoes to avoid things like bullying or negative comments. So the perspective taking in this part of the program is what I feel impacts and lost to the children,” Martinez said.
Red Rover Readers are available and ready to work with any school or library in the RGV. For more information visit their website at RedRover.org.
