Gossip!!! - Families ARE Fun!

Gossip is a never ending topic!
My favorite example of how it spreads and is unable to be gathered up...is with feathers.
I have to admit...I have never actually left feathers at doorsteps before...and since we have been studying birds for the last 8 weeks...and we just happen to have feathers around...I thought this would be the perfect time for this lesson!

I started the lesson by giving the kids feathers and having them take 1 to each doorstep ...or lay it by the mailbox of our neighbors!
(At this time I did not explain what the feathers were for)

After they came back we talked about gossip and the effects it has on others and ourselves!
I explained that when we talk about others we are breaking them down...we need to live where we build others up!

We need to make sure we are building each other up at home as well!

We talked about the different ways we can keep things positive at home!

I gave everyone a piece of paper with their name on it!
We passed it around until it returned to the owner!
Each person wrote 1 or 2 things nice about each other!

It was so fun to read the nice comments!
It made the kids feel really good!
It made ME feel built up...as I read what each of the kids appreciate about me!

How did it make you feel to read the nice comments?
How did it make you feel to write kind things about each other?

That is what we want in our home...and in our lives outside of home to feel like!!!

Then I asked them to go gather up the feathers that they had passed out!
They came home empty handed!
I explained that each of those feathers represented gossip!
That's the second problem with gossip...not only does it hurt everyone involved...but you can't take it back!
Once you spread a lie...or a hurtful truth...it will spread...and it is impossible to gather the damage up!
It is best to not spread the gossip in the first place!

We then read some scriptures of promises the LORD has made to those that don't talk ill of others!

Proverbs 26:20
Psalms 15:1-3
Proverbs 21:23
1 Peter 3:10

It is worth the time to look these up...they are great promises!

Source: http://pettiskirtsandmudpies.blogspot.com/2012/03/fhefamily-nightgossip.html

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