FHE: Inside the Lines

We've had a problem with sharing lately. Usually, the kids are pretty good about taking turns or letting the other play with their toys but they've caught of case of the MINE's and I have had it with the yelling. We were short on time for FHE tonight so I used a quick story from the Friend. We'll have to explore this topic in depth more later. And if you have any ideas, please share them! (After all, we are trying to encourage sharing around here...)

Opening Song: Do I really need to tell you? Twinkle Little Star.

Opening Prayer: Daddy.

Lesson: I asked the kids if they liked to color (of course!), what their favorite colors were, what pictures they liked to color, etc. Once I got them thinking about coloring and crayons, I read the story Inside the Lines from the February 1993 issue of the Friend. It's about a little boy named David who enjoys coloring, but is asked to share his crayons with his baby sister. He doesn't want to share so he gives his sister the brown crayon because he doesn't use it very often. Then David needs to color a horse brown. He tries grabbing the crayon back, but this makes his sister cry. He feels bad about making his little sister cry, so he offers to share all of his crayons. She sets down the brown crayon and uses the purple one. David can now finish his picture and his sister is happy, too.

Before each decision David made, I asked the kids what they would do. David doesn't want to share his crayons, but what should he do? David needs the brown crayon so what should he do? His little sister is crying. What can he do?

Boo seemed particularly horrified when David tried to snatch the crayon back instead of asking nicely, as she had suggested. The Boy said he should give his sister a hug when she was crying. He also wanted to know if he could have the green crayon. So at least they were paying attention enough to understand what was going on, that sharing was the point of the story. It was a quick lesson and I hope to go over this again.

Closing Song: Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree (it was Boo's turn to pick...I suggested Choose the Right).

Closing Prayer: Boo.

Treat: Homemade ice cream! We originally made this for the Fourth of July and it must have made a LOT because we've been eating it almost every night and still have plenty left.