Ephesians 4:32

"And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you."  Ephesians 4:32

 

This verse was added to our list of verses to memorize because Buddy and Sweetpea have been acting like typical siblings and irritating one another.  As we recite this verse, Buddy and I have talked about ways to be kind and what tenderhearted means.  It surprised me how easily he learned the concept of tenderhearted and this has actually made a difference in the way that Buddy treats Sweetpea.  In turn, Sweetpea is a little nicer as well during play time.  I hope to get a video of Buddy saying this verse soon.

We read several books as well geared towards being kind that went along with the verse.

Berenstain Bears Love Their Neighbors is a great book about being kind to people around us.  The Berenstain Bears ignore their neighbors down the road because they seem mean and messy.  When their car breaks down, the Bear family discovers who is their true neighbor.  It is a retelling of the Good Samaritan story from the Bible and was a good lesson for Buddy on how we should treat others.
 Rainbow Fish to the Rescue is the second Rainbow Fish book.  Buddy and Sweetpea loved the first book so much that I found this one at the library.  It fit perfectly into our verse as Rainbow Fish has to decide whether or not to play with his new friends or include the new fish.  It has an exciting finish when a shark appears in the reef.  Buddy loved this Rainbow Fish story as well and talked about how the other fish were mean and it was an easy tie-in to Ephesians 4:32.

Help Me Be Good: Being Mean by Joy Berry is a book that specifically talks about being mean on a child's level.  It was still a little over Buddy's head so I changed a few of the paragraphs to help him understand more clearly.  Joy Berry's Help Me Be Good series has several great books teaching children how to have good manners and act appropriately with others. 


Ephesians 4:32 is a good verse to memorize even for me to remember how we should treat one another.  Hopefully Buddy will remember this verse when he starts to act mean and choose the be kind instead.