Jesus came as a humble servant and taught us how to truly love one another. Loving others is so tough especially in your own home! Around our house, sibling conflicts are the norm. One provokes the other and before you know it, someone gets hurt. Our family way is “We treat each other with kindness, gentleness and respect.” We are continually talking about “building up” instead of “tearing down.” My kids learn a lot through hands on activities, especially art so we periodically do “building up” activities.

I wrote words and phrases on “blocks” that I cut out of construction paper. I told them to select the “blocks” that were “building up” words and use those blocks to build a building on their paper. The “block” that contained “tearing down” words and phrases were used on a building that had fallen down. We discussed the phrases, what they meant and examples of how they were used in our house. One thing I find beneficial in using hands on activities is that I can refer back to them. “Remember when we did our building up activity? What you just said to your brother was one of those tearing down phrases.” Now, if I can only get them to apply what they learn!