'Buddy Benches' at Mount Pearl primary schools encourage empathy

A program to foster friendliness in younger school-age children was introduced in Mount Pearl this week, and already there have been requests from other towns and cities across the province for more information.

The "Buddy Bench" was officially launched during an assembly at Morris Academy Monday.

A collaboration of the Mount Pearl Citizen's Crime Prevention Committee and the IceCaps Care Foundation, the project will see benches installed on three primary school playgrounds in the city.

Roberta Stanford, coordinator with the committee, said the Buddy Bench has a simple concept: it teaches students how to be a friend.

"It's an ordinary park bench that's placed on the school playground and our students are taught that if you're looking for a playmate, you can sit on the bench," said Stanford.

We're hoping that the bench gets used quite often.- Roberta Stanford

"It actually becomes a teaching tool. We're hoping it teaches students to be empathetic, and to be inclusive — and it also teaches students how to show kindness to others. If you're looking for a playmate, this lets other students know."

Stanford told CBC's CrossTalk Tuesday the program is geared toward children in kindergarten to Grade 3.

"We believe it's important to start at a young age … to teach children how to be empathetic," she said.

"We do know that empathy is one of the most important parts of a child's education because it's part of social education — and teaching students empathy can go a long way towards eliminating anti-social behaviours, like leaving students out or even bullying."

Buddy the Puffin joins in 

Stanford said many people attended Monday's assembly, including Mount Pearl Mayor Randy Simms, members of the IceCaps Care Foundation and St. John's IceCaps mascot Buddy the Puffin.​

"Buddy sat on the bench and it was quite exciting for the students. And although we're not used to seeing him this way, Buddy was actually sad … and the students noticed," she said.

"We had someone guide the students to looking at Buddy, asking the students how they thought Buddy felt, and what could we do to make Buddy feel better. Students gave really good answers, so it was a really good thing."

Teacher's kit

Stanford said the Buddy Bench concept has been popular in the U.S. for several years and in 2014, was introduced in several schools in Manitoba.

She said their committee has expanded the bench program in Mount Pearl by developing a teacher's kit.

"Part of the teacher's kit includes lesson plans on teaching students on how to be empathetic and what empathy is. We have stories [and] songs on empathy," Stanford said.

"We're hoping that the bench gets used quite often."

Stanford said there were a number of organizations and individuals who helped bring the project to reality.

We believe it's important to start at a young age … to teach children how to be empathetic.- Roberta Stanford

"The IceCaps came on board, very early in the game, they liked the idea. And without them we wouldn't have been able to do this. Their funding paid for a lot of the printing of the materials," she said.

"Carpenters, millwrights built the benches for us, for nothing. The Paint Shop in Mount Pearl donated the paint … and the art students at O'Donel High School painted the benches for us. So we had a lot of people that came on board that provided services for us, to make the project possible."

Stanford said she's received a lot of interest in the program from a school on Newfoundland's northern peninsula, as well as crime prevention committees in Labrador City, Gambo and Clarenville.