I have a little boy who was having a very hard time with life. At least once a week after he got home from school he would report that it was the worst day ever. And most days he would come home listing all the sad things that happened to him and nothing good. We decided we needed an FHE on good attitudes.
I set out 3 items and labeled them:
- lemon juice (sad stuff)
- sugar (good attitude)
- homemade lemonade (good day)
We we talked about how every day we will have sad things happen to us and they don’t feel very good, just like the lemon juice doesn’t taste very good. Each kid got to taste a spoon full of lemon juice.
Then we talked about how a good attitude is sweet like sugar and if we have a good attitude, even on a hard day, it will bring some sweetness to our day and the sad situations that may happen. Then each kid got a glass of lemonade to taste what a good attitude can do.
We ended the lesson by watching the Lemondade music video by Alex Boye – the kids love it and we still watch it from time to time. (By the way, if you read the whole description of the video for this song, it’s very touching.)
You know, we did this lesson over 6 months ago and while there have been plenty of sad things that have happened at school since then, my son hasn’t had a single day that he’s come home complaining that it was “the worst day ever” and he also tells us the good things instead of just the bad.
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What a cute idea! And I love the Alex Boye song. Great post!
Yes, it’s an awesome song! Thanks for your comments!
Kim, I’m really curious on this one: How did you explain to little kids what a good attitude is?
I actually had to think about that for a little while! We talk about attitudes all the time. If someone is acting up we always talk to them about needing to change their attitude. I believe when we first talked to them about attitudes, when they were very young, we linked attitude to the way they were behaving since kids especially usually show their attitudes through their behavior. We showed a frowny face and a smiley face – when they were doing good and happy things it was a good attitude and acting sad and doing naughty things was a frowny face or bad behavior. I hope that helps!
Hey Kim!! I need this lesson for my kids, 😁 thanks for sharing! I hope you and your family are well. -Rebecca (used to be Rowell)
Hi Rebecca!!! I hope it works great with your kids. Its one I refer back to often with one of my kids, in particular . . . an ongoing battle with us. But its so nice that he remembers the visual from the FHE and can recall the lesson when its brought up again.
What a great idea! Will be doing this!