Young children have a natural ability to feel empathy and compassion. For that reason, we decided to begin introducing ethics with our Kindergarten students through storytelling. We chose the book, “Hey, Little Ant” by Phillip and Hannah Hoose. It was a prefect tale to spur a dialog with small children about philosophical questions such as “How does this story relate to respect” or “Who is worthy of that respect?” It provides opportunities to discuss giving and denying respect for others as well as power and responsibility.

The story begins with a boy poised to squish an ant under his shoe, but the ant pleads with the boy to spare his life. The students were asked to think about others and whether everyone deserves respect no matter how different they are as well as should others have rights when they are different. While this seems a tall order for Kindergarteners; they actually had a lot to say and thoughtfully engaged in conversations to argue their points of view. Librarian, Stephanie Temple, made a chart of the reason the boy gives for squishing the ant, and the reasons the ant gives for not being squished. As young as these students are, they debated whether these reasons were valid.

The students were asked to consider, “Is the ant merely stealing food, or is it trying to feed and care for his family, just like humans?” With this in mind, they created collaged self-portraits of their faces with their thought bubble opinions and tiny beaded ants. The head from the nose up is meant to emphasize the difference in size. Most were compassionate toward the ant after hearing all the reasons for survival. The point was not to convince them one way or another, but more to make them think about all sides before they make a decision.

This story opened up opportunities to discuss giving and denying respect based on power and responsibility. We wanted students to stop and think before deciding. That was the most important lesson.