Natural-Born Peacemaker!

We've been learning to be peacemakers in kindergarten guidance classes and to show that we care. As part of this process, we're learning to tell how people feel by picking up on clues given by their faces, bodies, and what's going on around them. Understanding their feelings will help us be a good friend by treating them the way they need to be treated. Today, I showed large photographs to a class, and they figured out how the people shown in the pictures felt. Afterwards, they told me what the person might need, an action that a peacemaker might take based on someone's feelings. For example, a happy boy wouldn't necessarily need us to do anything except be happy with him. A sad girl might need us to ask what was wrong or try to cheer her up. Well, we came to a picture of a furious little boy. He had sqinched up eyes, a furrowed brow, a beet red face, a tight little mouth, and arms bent and held tightly against his torso. After the children correctly labeled the feeling of anger, I told them that when someone is THAT mad, we usually need to stay away from him until he calms down because he might yell at us for trying to help. As I gave this explanation, a blue-eyed boy on the front row softly said, "You could tell him that God is always with him." His teacher and I glanced at each other in mutual admiration of this little child's love and faith, and my heart began to melt. I don't think that this particular peacemaker needs much help learning about empathy
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