“Mom did I just fall down?” fiction and empathy
A Question That Holds More Than It Seems
“Mom, did I just fall down?” It might sound odd at first. But behind this question lies a moment of profound epiphany—one that became the seed of an entire book I wrote: Why Do We Need Fiction?, published in Turkish in October 2023.
This single moment turned into one of the most enlightening experiences of my life.
The Routine That Sparked Something Deeper
When my son was about four years old, we began watching animated movies together. Like most kids that age, sitting through a full-length movie wasn’t easy. So, I came up with a plan: I let the same movie play over and over in the background during our daily routine. Gradually, he began recognizing characters, memorizing lines, and singing along to songs.
Sometimes he’d wander off during scenes that didn’t catch his interest. But whenever his favorite scenes returned, he’d run back to the screen. I waited patiently until he could sit and watch a movie from beginning to end. When that day came, I made it an event. “Let’s play going to the cinema!” I’d say. And we’d sit side by side, just like in a theater.
The Day Empathy Took Shape
One day, we watched Ice Age. If you’ve seen it, you’ll remember that the trio—Sid, Diego, and Manfred—find a human baby and take care of him during their migration journey. They face many hardships, share joyful moments, and build deep bonds. Eventually, they reunite the baby with his father. In that reunion scene, the father cries tears of joy, and each animal is visibly moved.
Just then, my son turned to me and asked, “Mom, did I just fall down?”
He hadn’t fallen. He sat quietly beside me on the couch. But I instantly realized what had happened. That moment made me tear up too. He wasn’t physically hurt—he simply didn’t understand the emotion swelling inside him. His eyes welled up, his nose tingled, and not knowing why, he asked if he had fallen. What he really meant was: “Why do I feel like crying even though I haven’t fallen?”
That was his first encounter with empathy.
Fiction as a Mirror for Inner Life
Fiction had done what everyday life hadn’t yet managed to do. It provided a structured emotional experience. He had seen other children being scolded or getting hurt in real life, but none of those experiences had stirred this same feeling. Fiction gave him the time and space to engage emotionally without distraction.
He watched the story unfold over 80 minutes—meticulously crafted, flowing with clear cause and effect, building toward that emotional moment. That’s something real life can rarely do. Life is chaotic. We can’t always see events as whole sequences. We’re caught up in it—never standing outside of it.
In fiction, however, the structure allows us to view events from a safe distance. We can focus, process, and reflect. That is why my son had this awakening moment during a movie, not while witnessing real-life situations.
Fiction’s Role in Developing Empathy
In life, distractions are constant. A child who notices someone crying in a park might get distracted by a passing cat or an ice cream cart. But in fiction, the structure holds us. It allows emotional engagement without interruption. It lines up events in a way that encourages reflection.
Fiction is not just stories. It’s carefully composed emotional experiences. The mind perceives the world in pieces, often struggling to align causes with effects. Fiction, however, has a designer—it’s coherent, whole, and purposeful.
And that is precisely why fiction fosters empathy. It provides clarity, design, and depth.
Why We Must Prioritize Fiction in Education
This is why we advocate bringing good fiction into children’s and young adults’ lives—not to increase literacy rates or reading speed, but to help them understand emotions. To feel, to reflect, and to connect with others.
Fiction offers an education of the heart.
It teaches what life often cannot. Not because life lacks emotion, but because it lacks coherence. Fiction allows the young mind to organize and understand feelings within a structure.
Final Thoughts
That moment with my son reminded me of my own childhood epiphany. For me, it was seeing a globe in my classroom at the age of seven. For him, it was Ice Age. For you, it could be anything—a poem, a novel, a painting, a moment in a story.
These are our doorways into empathy.
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