Conviction

Our church has a really cool approach to keeping parents and kids on the same page with what they're learning. Each month there is a virtue theme and everybody is learning about it, both the younger kids, the older kids, and the entire family when we have our shared time of KidStuf. We also have a monthly subscription to an awesome resource, Family Times, so that we have tools to use at home for family interaction. There are ideas for family devotions or conversations, things you can do through the month to continue to focus on the virtue, and even a very cool Drive Time CD with stuff for both the kids and the parents. (the kid part is sort of like Adventures in Odyssey and the parent part is like a radio talk show, plus there is always an original song that highlights the month's virtue) You can get Family Times even if you don't go to a church like ours.

Anyhoo, this month we are talking about Conviction: Standing up for what's right even if others don't. I love it that we know first-hand what's being taught at church--we were there! And now we can talk about it together.

The other day my daughter had a little story to tell me. Her class has recently started being allowed to have a snack time at school. The kids can bring money to buy something from the vending machines, or they can bring a snack from home. My daughter wanted to buy Gogurt from the vending machines and I told her that we had plenty of snacks at home and I was not going to buy a Gogurt every day. I have her a dollar to use this week, however she could dole it out to herself for snacks, or she could take snacks from home and save the dollar to keep.

Well, one day she used half of her dollar for a Gogurt. The next day her friend had gotten braces on and her teeth were hurting. Her friend had been unable to eat breakfast, lunch, and the crunchy snack that was available to kids that hadn't brought an alternative snack. My daughter decided to buy her friend a Gogurt since that was something soft she could eat.

My daughter's comment: It was the right thing to do.

We were even able to make a list together of virtues she showed by doing this: self-control, friendship, love, thoughtfulness, care, determination, uniqueness, fairness, and more.

I had this initial urge to give her another 50 cents for herself since she had given her money away, but then I realized that if I did that I would be robbing her of the opportunity to experience the full impact of giving and sacrificing for someone else. I didn't say anything about it. But a few minutes after I got all of this settled in my mind, she said to me,

"It felt really good to do that for her."

This is the type of moment that keeps me encouraged that we're on the right track.