Dear Parents,
As Jesus continued His ministry, He met many people who needed physical healing.
In John 9, Jesus met a man who was born blind. His disciples immediately decided that either the man or his parents must have sinned or else the man would not have been blind from birth.
Jesus was quick to correct this type of thinking; no one’s sin was to blame for the man’s situation – rather this was an opportunity for God to show His power and compassion by healing the man and making him see.
In Luke 10, Jesus further illustrated the need for people to show kindness to others by telling the parable of the good Samaritan. In the passage, a Samaritan (a man whose ancestry made him detestable to most Jewish people) demonstrated extraordinary compassion by helping a man (whom Jesus’ audience would have assumed to be Jewish) who had been beaten and robbed.
While teaching your child good table manners is generally straightforward, teaching kindness and compassion is not. So how can you promote empathy and instill in your child the value of showing kindness?
Consider the following ideas after this Bible lesson:
- Demonstrate kindness at home. If you find yourself short-tempered with your child at times during the day (such as the time right before dinner), think about ways to make those times run more smoothly.
- Talk gently to your child about how his or her actions, both kind and unkind, affect others’ feelings. Ask your child to think about how he or she might feel if he or she received the same type of treatment as the treatment he or she shows to others.
- Show kindness in your own behavior. Thank those who serve you in a restaurant. Assist an elderly person in loading groceries into the car. Tie a loose shoestring for a preschooler when you pick up your child
Thank you for helping your child to learn the Bible truth.
© Bible Preschool