Roots of Empathy (ROE) is a classroom program that has shown dramatic effect in reducing levels of aggression and violence among schoolchildren, while raising social/emotional competence and increasing empathy. At the heart of the program are a neighbourhood infant and parent who visit the classroom for nine visits, every three weeks, over the school year. A trained ROE instructor coaches students to observe the baby's development and to label the baby's feelings. In this experiential learning, the baby is the "teacher" and a lever that the instructor uses to help children identify and reflect on their own feelings and the feelings of others. The "emotional literacy" taught in the program lays the foundation for more safe and caring classrooms where children challenge cruelty and are more inclusive. During a typical Roots of Empathy family visit, the baby, parent and ROE instructor gather on a special green blanket on the classroom floor. Students observe, ask questions, and discuss the infant's behaviour, vocalization, temperament and overall responses. They are trying to understand the baby's needs and feelings--in other words, to take the perspective of the baby. In the post-family visits that occur in each of the nine themes of the curriculum, the children learn to reflect on their own feelings and take the perspective of their classmates. As their understanding of their own feelings and the feelings of others increases, they are less likely to physically or psychologically hurt each other. Relationships are at the centre of a civil society, whether that society is a small classroom, the whole school, the community, the country or the ever-shrinking globe. The relationship story is made real for children as they connect with a baby and parent during the first year of the baby's life. The attachment and attunement between the parent and child is a template for positive, empathic human relationships. What the children learn here has universal and far-reaching implications: it shapes how they deal with each other today, and it lays a foundation for their future as parents and citizens.