Building One Another Up, Putting on Love

Murphy's Laws for Toddlers:

• If it's mine it's mine,
  if it's yours it's mine,
  if I like it is mine,
  if I can take it from you it is mine,
  if I am playing with something ALL of the pieces are mine,
  if I think it is mine it is,
  if I saw it first it's mine,
  if I had it then put it down it is still mine,
  if you had it then you put it down it is now mine,
  if it looks like the one I have at home it is mine,
  if it is broken it is yours.

It's funny, but so true. If you've been around toddlers for any length of time, you know these sayings pretty well describe toddler behavior. We can laugh about a toddler's selfish tendencies, but it's not so comical if the selfishness persists as the child grows older.

It's important for young children to learn to work and play together. So when we have Free Centers Time at the end of the day, it's more than just play. The students are learning to share, take turns, have patience, and to resolve conflicts.

 Most importantly, they're putting into practice Biblical instructions on how we should relate to one another: asking for what we need in a respectful tone of voice, waiting patiently for a turn, sharing what we have, apologizing when we're wrong, and forgiving others who have wronged us.

Whether they're playing in dress-up, building with blocks, drawing in the art center, climbing up in the loft, or sharing the iPads, they're learning to build one another up and put on love.

"Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing." I Thessalonians 5:11

"Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God." Hebrews 13:16

"Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other, as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony."  Colossians 3:12-14

Working Well Together

Learning to Do Their Best