During the lesson, the information for you to know is written in regular type, and what we suggest speaking or reading aloud to children is in bold. All resources for this lesson, including the Teacher Guide, Student Page, Family Connection Card, and other resources can be downloaded in a ZIP file by clicking on the following link:
In some lessons you will find "resource articles." These are articles written by experts from around the world to help equip you for your work with children and adolescents. Share them with parents or guardians if you consider it appropriate.
Bible
1. Do Not Hurt Yourself.
2. Do Not Hurt Others.
3. Do Not Hurt Property.
In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears.
Psalm 18:6
We all face hardships in life, but what do we do in response? Do we destroy things? React in anger? Do something to hurt ourselves? When pain floods us, it can be easy to respond in ways that hurt things, others, or even ourselves. Think of a time when you reacted wrongly to a strong emotion. How did you respond?
God wants us to turn to Him—to allow Him to be the one who hears our cries. He is big enough to take your pain, your anger, your frustrations. He cares for you. He hears you. He does not want you to hurt others or yourself because of your pain. He longs for you to turn to Him in your distress so that He can begin to heal your heart. Turn to Him now. Let Him know your emotions. Release any pain, frustration, or anger to His cleansing love.
Many children have been the recipients of a parent’s anger or pain. Encourage your children to share with their families the 3 “Do Not” rules they learn today. They may change an entire family!
Teacher Tip: If possible, email or text the Family Connection Card to the families of your students.
As your children come to class, ask if they paid attention to their emotions during the past week.
Today we will continue to learn about expressing emotions in a healthy way. Remember that emotions are not right or wrong. Sometimes how we act on them is not good, but the emotions are just a signal. Emotions tell us how we are feeling. God gave us our emotions.
Make sure the children understand that defence mechanisms can be helpful for a short time. They give us time to think about what a helpful response to the emotional situation should be. But if we always hide our emotions, they hurt us and can even make us sick. If possible, we need to deal with the situation that caused the negative emotions so it will not happen again.
Ask the children to pay attention to their strong emotions again this week. Let them know you will talk about this next week.
Sometimes the hardest part of talking about our emotions is figuring out what you are feeling and naming it! So let’s play a game about naming emotions. I will read a few statements about what makes me feel this emotion. When you think you know what the emotion is, stand up and say it.
As you read the clues, be sure to pause after each sentence so the children have time to guess.
Possible answers: Happy, excited
Good job at naming the emotion! Now get with a partner. Think of an emotion but do not say what it is. Then think of 2–3 statements that will help describe situations that show that emotion, like the example I gave did. You and your partner will take turns describing how you feel without using the word for the emotion. Go!
Give the children about 5–10 minutes to do the activity. Walk around and help any children who are struggling with the activity. When time is over, pick 1–2 children to describe their emotions for the whole class to guess. That child’s partner cannot guess though!
You all did a good job naming emotions! This week we will talk about ways to express feelings in ways that are healthy, not harmful.
Optional Supplies: If you were able to make the 3 signs, give them to 3 children. Have them hold up the signs. Every time you mention these 3 rules, have the same children stand up and wave the signs.
Each time you say 1 of the 3 rules about expressing emotions below, your children will stand up and raise an arm in front of them, with the palm facing out, to signal “Stop!”
There are 3 very important rules for expressing feelings in healthy ways. These are the 3 “Do Not” rules. You can express emotions in a healthy way as long you …
Ask the children to repeat these 3 guidelines and use the hand signal and optional signs. Afterward, they can sit down.
A harmful way of expressing feelings is doing anything that hurts anyone or anything. Fortunately there are some good ways to express feelings. Start by naming the emotion you are feeling. Maybe you do not know for sure. A good way to find out is by saying, “I feel (add the feeling words here) because (this happened).”
Example: “I feel stupid because Jiho laughed when I made a mistake in class.”
After you think of this sentence, you need to find a positive way to express your feelings. This can be the hard part. I will read some wrong responses you may have felt like doing if you had been in this situation. When I do, stand up and use the hand signal and say which “Do Not” rule this is breaking. Then sit down after each one.
What would be the positive way to deal with your feelings? Stop and think! You know you cannot do something that will hurt yourself, or hurt another person, or hurt property. Listen to some right responses.
In the Bible, David followed God. Eventually David became king, but when he was young, he was a shepherd, taking care of his father’s sheep. David learned to play the harp, perhaps in the long hours out in the field watching the sheep. King Saul invited David to come to the palace and play for him. As David grew older, his relationship with Saul turned ugly. It was not unusual for the king to get angry with David. As David gained power and popularity with the people, the king became more and more angry and jealous. Eventually David ran away from the palace so the king would not kill him. Other men joined him, and David became their leader.
Now listen as I read what David wrote after he fled from King Saul and entered a cave, where he hoped he would be safe. This is Psalm 57. It was actually written as a song. Listen carefully. Maybe there have been times when you felt like David.
Read with excitement and enthusiasm. The students will memorize only part of this passage.
Show the Memory Verse poster if you are using it.
I cry out to God, and he carries out his plan for me. He answers from heaven and saves me.
Psalm 57: 2-3, NIrV
Optional: If you are using the Student Pages, allow the children to draw pictures based on the parts of the psalm on their pages.
If possible, show The Action Bible images as you tell the story of David and Saul.
Let’s hear more about what happened while David and his men were hiding in the cave. One day King Saul came into the cave for a few minutes. The men encouraged David to sneak up and kill Saul. They said the Lord had given the king into David’s hands.
So David snuck up close to Saul and cut off a corner of the king’s robe. Afterward, David felt bad about what he had done. He rebuked his men, saying, “May the Lord prevent me from doing something like that again. Saul is God’s anointed king! I forbid you to hurt him in any way or encourage me to hurt him in any way.”
David was in the middle of a really hard circumstance. We know God got him out alive, but David did not know that.
Help the children see that David did not do anything to hurt himself or others. He expressed his emotions in a song to God.
David hurt Saul’s property by cutting off a piece of his robe.
Think of a time you may have harmed yourself, someone else, or property. Have you felt sorry for your actions, as David did? Take a few moments to talk with God about this in your heart.
Let the children know that you are available after class if they want to talk with you about this.
Optional: If you are using The Action Bible, ask your children to review the story by reading pages 294–295.
Put the children into small groups and explain that you are going to give them situations. For each one, they are to tell what emotion the person might be feeling and decide how this person should handle the emotion in a good way. Ask 2 groups to share their answers after each situation.
Optional, if you have time: Encourage the small groups to come up with their own situations and how the person in their situation would handle the situation in a good way. Groups will share with the whole class.
Close your eyes and receive this blessing from God that comes from part of David’s song.
Blessing: Lord, may we know You whose love reaches to the heavens and whose truth reaches to the skies. Show us that You hear our cries. May we know that we are secure in Your love.
Lead the children in singing this quarter’s song if possible.
Life on Life ©2020 David C Cook. Reproducible for home or classroom use only. All other uses require written permission from David C Cook [email protected]. All rights reserved.
