FHE Lesson: Showing Respect and Kindness to All God’s Children

Nov 2008 Issue

by Alison Palmer

Scripture: D&C 59:7\

Song: “I’ll Walk with You,”Children’s Songbook, 140.

Preparation: If there is an individual with a special challenge in your ward or neighborhood, consider inviting them to share their experiences with your family during family home evening. Another option would be someone who works in a special needs environment. Gather the following: A child’s wagon or rolling office chair, two sets of earplugs or earmuffs, several blindfolds, 2 fabric ties.

Lesson: Briefly review the message of the opening song. Discuss the ways that Jesus Christ showed acceptance, compassion, and empathy toward those with special needs that He encountered. Next, tell the family that they will be exploring what it might feel like to have some of these difficulties themselves.

Randomly assign family members to a disability and task to be accomplished within a set amount of time (approximately five minutes). Rotate several times so that each child gets to experience several different things.

Suggested activities:

• A wagon-restricted person must push themselves around the perimeter of the house, or navigate a certain room inside the house.

• Two children in earmuffs must play a game of charades and guess what each other needs without using words of any kind. (i.e.- I need a drink of water, My nose tickles, Shake my hand please) You might want to allow them paper and pencil to help them write down their guesses at the charades since they can’t speak in return.

• The children in blindfolds must successfully navigate the room or other area.

• The person with one arm tied to his side must put on his coat or change his shoes unassisted.

• The child with both arms tied to his sides must find a way to write his name.
Special note: some disabilities are not quite as obvious as these are. You might want to be sensitive to those with learning disabilities by doing some of the following.

• Not allowing a child to interact with the other children- autism.

• Give a child a book written in a foreign language and asking them to tell you what it says- dyslexia or
learning disabilities.

Remind the family that it is difficult to know what another’s life is like or what their challenges may be.
The items they have been experimenting with are among those life challenges that are more apparent, but we can’t assume we know anything about someone as a person just by looking at their handicap. It helps to “walk in their shoes” so to speak and try to think about how we would like to be treated if we were in the other person’s position.

Spend some time respectfully discussing those that you might know with disabilities or special needs.
What do they appear to need help with, how do other people seem to treat them, what special qualities do they possess? Discuss ways the members of the family think they can show greater empathy toward both those they know, and those they may encounter in other situations such as stores, sidewalks, etc.

Activities

Younger Children- Take an outing to a local library or bookstore to see what kinds of books you can find about special needs children. Explore them together.
Older Children- Use the phone book, or internet, to research the types of nonprofit organizations in your area that help the poor, less fortunate, or otherwise challenged individuals. Make a plan as a family to help one of these organizations over the next few weeks.

Refreshments

Foot-shaped cookies and shoestring French fries.

Or, prepare a favorite desert with “handicaps.” One person should have the recipe and instruct the rest of the family take turns, while blindfolded to find each ingredient, measure it, and add it to the mixture. The person with the blindfold can be coached by other family members, but he or she must perform the actual task without help.