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Empathy and sympathy are inherent traits in all children, but certain factors influence how they are expressed.

As shown by one infant's distress to another's tears, all children are born with the potential to be empathic and sympathetic individuals. However, developing these qualities is a slow and gradual process that is influenced by many factors, including parental interaction and the age of the child. As children grow, their environment and nurturing shape whether their empathy increases or becomes replaced by more negative emotions. The following factors play a significant role in this process.

Empathic parents and role models
As children's first and best teachers, parents play a central role in developing empathy in children. Children model what they see in their parents. Research has shown that parents who openly express warmth and compassion raise more empathic children. Starting from infancy, parents can teach children about emotions and about the importance of recognizing other people's feelings. Additionally, the influence does not stop with parents. Research has also shown that children imitate helping and sharing behaviors they see in anyone with whom they have a positive relationship, including teachers and other caregivers.

Age
As children get older, their ability to empathize should increase. Of course, this does not happen to the same degree or at the same pace for every child, but with age, children learn to take on other people's perspectives. They also learn to understand how their actions affect other people, and how every action has a consequence.

Gender, similarity, and attachment
Children (and people in general) feel more empathy for those they understand best: friends of the same gender, people they have spent a lot of time with, and someone going through an experience they have had. The ability to feel compassion for strangers or for people whose situations are different from their own is a sign of sympathy and empathy in children as they get older.

Emotional understanding
The first step in becoming empathic is learning to understand and identify one's own emotions. Therefore, children who express their emotions freely and easily tend to be more empathic. They have more practice and are more comfortable identifying others' feelings and responding to them.

Emotional security
Children who have self-confidence, adapt well to new situations, get along easily with new people, and who feel comfortable asserting themselves are more likely to assist others. This trait can also be traced to parents who respond consistently to their child's needs with care and affection.

Temperament
Temperament refers to the "how" of behavior: how children react they way they do, and how children go about doing the things they do. Temperament is the set of inherent traits unique in each person that exist at birth. Children with happy, social temperaments are more likely to empathize with others in distress than children who are withdrawn.