4. CARE – How can we care for someone?

GROUND RULES

Share Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child: ‘You have the right to give your opinion, and for adults to listen and take it seriously’ and remind the children of the ground rules:

• We have the right to an opinion and for it to be listened to and taken seriously.
• Thumbs up if you want to speak.
• One person talks at a time.
• Everyone is valued.
• Respect each other’s responses.

GETTING SET

Ask the children to sit in a circle and then to make a choice between taking an elephant or a chameleon for a walk. Give them time to think about their choice as a reason will be required! Explain that there is no right or wrong answer but what is important is the reason for their choice. In turn ask the children the question

• Would you rather take an elephant or a chameleon for a walk?

 Children respond with such answers as, “I would rather take a chameleon for a walk because I’d like to see the chameleon change colour.”

INTRODUCTION

Explain to the children that today they are going to be exploring what it means to care for someone who is in need.

ACTIVITY

Share the story of a man who was helped by some poor people:

“Today you, tomorrow me”

Driving in a very quiet part of the countryside late one evening, a man’s car broke down. He waited for somebody to help him, but several cars went by and nobody stopped to help. Just before he was about to give up and try walking to the nearest garage, a poor family consisting of a father, mother and daughter stopped in their shoddy old van. The parents couldn’t speak English but the daughter could. The father helped the man fix his car whilst the mother gave him food and water. The man felt very grateful and insisted on giving the family some money for the assistance he’d received, especially since they were obviously poor. But they refused. Upon the man’s final attempt to hand the father some money, the father said, in his broken English, “today you, tomorrow me”.  [Original story from http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/james-coe/reddit-5-uplifting-stories_b_3343346.html]

Invite the children to think about the following ‘I wonder…’ statements and to offer some responses:

• I wonder why the man who broke down didn’t give his name when he shared his story.
• I wonder why several people drove by without stopping to help.
• I wonder why the poor family stopped to help.
•  I wonder what the man learned from the poor family.

Invite the children to raise their own questions about this story. Invite them then to vote for a question that they think the class could discuss. [Encourage the children to close their eyes when voting so they are not influenced by their peers’ votes.]

Once a question has been voted for, invite the children to share some initial answers. Clarify the question where needed and help them to build their understanding – agreeing and disagreeing with the ideas they are airing. Encourage them to listen carefully to each other so that they can appreciate other points of view and learn more about what they need to know to answer the question. After everyone has had an opportunity to participate, thank the children for their contributions.   

ACTIVITY

Ask the children: How do you show that you care? and encourage them to draw pictures of how they care at home, in school and in our world.

CONCLUSION

Offer some reflections on the session on the importance of caring for others and encourage the children to think about making a difference and helping someone in need in the coming week. Ask them to reflect on such questions as:

• How would you react if someone fell over in the playground
• How could you help around your house or in your garden?
• Could you recycle your old toys and take them to a charity shop for someone else to buy and enjoy?