Second chance
Children's Activity
Object:
Teachers or Parents: It is important for children to learn
that failure is not permanent (neither is success). Have the
children reflect on accomplishments that came after many
failures. "Tell me about how you learned to ride your bicycle,"
for example, might enable the children to reflect on how they
first learned to master the bicycle after training wheels and
many scrapes and bruises (children love to talk about their war
wounds). Parents might reflect on when your youngster first
learned to walk. It came only after many falls. Learning to speak
or write or learning nearly any skill that is more advanced
usually came after many failures and false starts.
"What if you had stopped trying to walk after the first time you fell?" you might ask. "What if you never opened your mouth until you could speak correctly?" Obviously that is impossible. Success is often predicated upon failure -- sometimes repeated failures.
Our God is a God of the second chance.
Make an inventory of your children's gifts. "What are you good at doing?" Encourage each to contribute. Write it on the blackboard or a large sheet of paper. Ask the class, "What is Sara good at doing?" if Sara can't come up with anything. Affirm all the gifts of the class and get them to see that their gifts came through failure that ultimately led to success.
End the lesson with a statement that affirms the God of a second (and third and fourth) chance. "I'm glad we have a God who understands us when we fail and helps us to get better and better."
"What if you had stopped trying to walk after the first time you fell?" you might ask. "What if you never opened your mouth until you could speak correctly?" Obviously that is impossible. Success is often predicated upon failure -- sometimes repeated failures.
Our God is a God of the second chance.
Make an inventory of your children's gifts. "What are you good at doing?" Encourage each to contribute. Write it on the blackboard or a large sheet of paper. Ask the class, "What is Sara good at doing?" if Sara can't come up with anything. Affirm all the gifts of the class and get them to see that their gifts came through failure that ultimately led to success.
End the lesson with a statement that affirms the God of a second (and third and fourth) chance. "I'm glad we have a God who understands us when we fail and helps us to get better and better."
