Sunday my lesson for the three year old's was about being a good example: Following in Jesus's Footsteps. One of the visuals I had for them involved paper footprints I'd cut out of construction paper. Taped on two of the walls were pictures of Jesus. One was of Zacharius in a tree. I told them the story about Zacharius from the Bible. Zacharius wanted to see Jesus but was too short to see him over the crowd, so he climbed a tree. No one liked Zacharius, but Jesus was nice to him anyway. AHA! So..we should be nice to people even if others aren't! The other picture was of Jesus praying. (morale: we should pray for others) The children each had a turn walking on the footprints to the pictures, and then telling us what they were about. They thought that was fun.
We also talked about being good examples to our family, especially our siblings. Most of the children have younger brothers or sisters, but do they know that those smaller people look up to them for how to behave? I told them about my big sister. She is five years older than I am. When we were kids, she would sometimes say, "Yvonne, do you want to go outside and play with me?" Excited, I'd get my jacket on, run out to play with her--only to find her gone. I remember calling for her and really having my feelings hurt because she'd tricked me again. Phooey! Or she'd lock me in our grandmother's basement and turn out the light. Scary to be in the dark alone. Karissa asked, "did you cry?" I admitted I did! My big sister really wasn't nice to me at all (some things never change) but I decided she was an idiot when I was about 12 years old. Okay, so I didn't say "idiot" to the children, I said, "she was making bad choices!" Marigene was 17 and dating boys. Funny, all the girls made faces at the "dating boys" idea. I laughed and told them they'd do that someday and find it fun! They looked sceptical. Anyway, Marigene was dating a very creepy boy named Rick. I told the children that Rick used bad language and was the type of person that you could imagine knocking down a little old lady, stealing her purse, and running away. Yup, that was Rick. I was 12 then and asked Marigene, "why are you dating such a creepy guy?" She told me she didn't really like him; she was just doing it to upset our parents. I asked the children if they thought that was a good reason to date someone and they all said "NOOOO!" Smart kiddos! Then I asked them if they wanted to know what happened to my sister? They said they did. I told them she got so used to being around "creepy people," that she married men who were creepy. Two of her ex-husbands spent time in jail. Not a good thing! (the other three weren't that nice either) I also told them that I have a little brother and asked if they thought I was the kind of big sister to him, that my sister had been to me. I got another resounding "NOOOOO!" from them over that too! Like I said, smart kiddos! I told them I played with my little brother and was nice to him. I knew what it felt like to have a big sister who was mean. Malachi told me that he's going to be a good big brother to his baby brother. I know he is already, even without hearing my story, but that was good to hear.
Our craft was coloring "fake feet" to remind them to follow in Jesus's footsteps. I took photos of all the children wearing theirs. Well, except for Zoe who is apparently very particular about photos. One of our recent lessons was about friends and I gave them each a class photo in a foam frame, that they decorated with glow in the dark stars. Cool, hmm? Zoe didn't think so and told me later that she threw hers away because it had "other people in it." ??? Her friends from class! That was the whole point of the lesson! Sigh. ooh well. Can't please 'em all. I have noticed that Malachi carries his class photo in his scripture bag. At least he likes it!
Here are the kiddos and their feet! Well, except for Zoe!
