God has not called on me to be successful. He has called on me to be faithful. — Mother Teresa

IN TODAY'S SESSION...

We talked about perseverance. We heard a story about a brave little parrot that persevered in the face of impossibility to save some animals from a forest fire. Its actions attracted the attention of one of the Gods who was so moved that his tears put out the fire. Children also heard real life stories about men and women who persevered, often alone, to purse a solution that they were passionate about. Children heard several examples of how perseverance attracted the attention of others and thus effected a positive change. The children made books and comic strips of these stories to bring home to share with you.

EXPLORE THE TOPIC TOGETHER. TALK ABOUT...

We hope that you will continue this conversation at home about working hard for things that you believe. Maybe you have a favorite heroic character that you would like to tell your child about. Take a trip to the children's room at your local library. There are many excellent picture books about people of all ages who stood up for what they believed in and brought about change. The book A Lamp in Every Corner: Our Unitarian Universalist Storybook by Janeen K. Grohsmeyer (Boston: Unitarian Universalist Association, 2004) has a number of age-appropriate stories about Unitarian Universalist ancestors who worked hard for what they believed in. You can also visit the Giraffe Heroes Project website to read about regular people who stuck their necks out for change.

EXTEND THE TOPIC TOGETHER. TRY...

Brainstorm together about a project to work hard at, as a family, such as getting the neighbors to join in a clean-up day by initiating it yourselves, or knitting hats or scarves for needy people, or saving change to send to a good cause.

A FAMILY RITUAL

Once a week at meal time, share stories of things you have had to work hard at, either during the week or in the past.

A FAMILY GAME

Find a puzzle or a Lego or model-building project that you can work on together and ask every family member to commit to seeing it through.