KEY POINTS:
Two-month-old Toka Charlie is already teaching others. The baby plays a key role in a new anti-bullying programme Roots of Empathy which launched yesterday at Bairds Mainfreight Primary School in Otara.
The programme, which rolled out to 10 Auckland schools this term, will expand to 100 classes during a three-year trial by the Peace Foundation and the Ministry of Social Development.
Developed in Canada, the scheme involves classroom visits by a parent and baby and an instructor. Toka and his mother Nina will regularly visit the Otara school this year, so Year 5 pupils can watch and learn as he grows and better understands the feelings of others.
As he bobbed around on an exercise roll yesterday, 10-year-olds were asked how they thought the little one was feeling.
"Relaxed," came one reply.
"Happy - he's not crying," said another.
Mrs Charlie told the pupils her son sometimes cried "really loud", mainly when he was hungry, or had a wet nappy. She showed them how he liked to be cradled close to her when he was upset.
The Peace Foundation director Marion Hancock said the lesson was to show that crying babies were not "naughty", they needed help.
She said studies in Canada showed the programme decreased aggression and bullying. It aimed to break inter-generational cycles of violence.
Social Development Minister David Benson-Pope said the scheme would be evaluated to see how the behaviour of students in the programme compared to those not in it.
"These are long-term goals," he said.
