"We're Sorry, Possum!"

After describing what a conscience is and how it can help us make decisions, I told an embarrassing story about how I learned I had a conscience at the age of 4. Then it was time to give out the puppets for our kindergarten story. As I pulled each puppet out of my bag, the children oohed and aahhed...until I pulled out the possum. At that point, I heard several students say, "Eew, ick, gross." Thinking I could tie this in with our lesson, I cuddled the possum and said, "Aw, please don't hurt his feelings. He can't help it if he was born a possum." Immediately, a petite brunette sitting on the front row said to the possum, "I'm sorry." I said, "Oh how sweet! We're talking about conscience, and yours just made you feel sad about hurting his feelings." And I held the possum up to her so she could hug it. Several more hands went up as children called out, "I said it, too!" So one by one, I passed the possum puppet around and let all the ones who'd "hurt his feelings" give him a hug and tell him they were sorry. This probably sounds silly, but I do think the children understood that we can hurt real people's feelings with our words, and that our consciences can either help us decide not to be mean in the first place or to apologize when we goof up. It really was a heartwarming and humorous scene!s