At the beginning of each semester, schools hold parent-teacher conferences. It is a regular school event and usually begins with a greeting from the principal, introduction of teachers and school policies, etc.

To be honest, I don‘t like these parent-teacher conferences, because the principal’s speech tends to go on and on with generic parenting advice and so on.

However, there was one good takeaway this time. I attended two parent-teacher conferences in a row, one was at an elementary school, and the other was at a junior high school. Perhaps just by chance, both principals mentioned empathy. They encouraged us to try to empathize with our children.

After the conference, I made a decision to be more empathetic with my daughters. However, it’s a little harder than it sounds, and I feel like I’ve already failed a few times.

The other day my older daughter said to me, “These days, I don‘t even take a carton of milk from the serving table at school lunch, because I know I can’t drink it all. If I open it and only take one or two sips then just throw it away, that’s a terrible waste, right?”

Can you guess what I said to her? I said “Why do you think the government added milk to school lunches? It’s because drinking milk everyday is important for kids your age! And I pay for school lunches, including milk!”

She listened to me and looked a little sad. I don’t think I empathized with her at all.

I guess becoming more empathetic as a mom is going to take some time…

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