Tapestry of Faith: Moral Tales: A Program on Making Choices for Grades 2-3

Leader Resource 2: What Would UU Do Dilemma Slips

Part of Moral Tales

There are 15 dilemmas suggested to use for the activity. All of the session concepts (Moral Compass directions) taught in the Moral Tales program can be used to resolve at least one dilemma.

Download this Leader Resource into a word processing document on your computer. Use your word processing program to delete the dilemmas you won't use and add dilemmas you think of. Print this copy as a reference for co-leaders to use during the activity.

Then, make a copy of the document. On this version, delete the references to words and phrases from the Moral Compass. Put page breaks in between the dilemmas. Print out two copies, and cut the dilemmas into slips to give the teams.

Dilemma #1

(Empathy, Generosity, Inner Voice, Interdependence, Responsibility, Golden Rule, Welcoming, Non-Violence, Cooperation, Respect)

A girl at school has broken her leg and is on crutches. She needs help carrying her books and belongings around the school. She is new to the school and doesn't have any good friends yet. How could you help her? What other traits would you also draw on? (You are hoping they will talk about how it must feel to be in her shoes, and what they could do to help her individually and together.)

Dilemma #2A

(Generosity, Inner Voice, Interdependence, Responsibility, Fairness, Golden Rule, Welcoming, Non-Violence, Cooperation, Empathy)

A kid at school forgot his lunch. How could you help him individually? How could you get others kids to help too? (You hope they will talk about sharing individually and collectively.)

Dilemma #2B

(Generosity, Empathy, Balance, Fairness, Inner voice)

You have more than 100 toys. You have learned that there are children who only have one or two toys. What can you do?

Dilemma #3

(Courage, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Empathy, Inner voice, Interdependence, Golden Rule, Welcoming, Non-Violence, Forgiveness, Courage, Perseverance, Cooperation)

There is a new child in your school who has recently moved from another country. There is a small group of kids who are making fun of them because they has a strong accent. They keep surrounding them at recess and in the hall and pretending to talk like them. How can you help? (You hope they will talk about standing up to bullies even if it is scary.)

Dilemma #4

(Forgiveness, Empathy, Golden Rule, Generosity).

A friend of yours borrowed one of your favorite toys and broke it. What can you do to keep being friends with them?

Dilemma #5

(Non-violence, Cooperation, Forgiveness, Golden Rule)

Your brother or sister gets mad at you because they think that you got something special and they didn't. They throw something at you as are walking away from them. You feel like throwing something back at them. What do you do?

Dilemma #6

(Perseverance, Empathy, Generosity, Interdependence, Golden Rule, Respect)

A family in town has a flood in their house and all of their possessions are going to be ruined if they don't get them out of the house quickly. How could you help and how much time would you give them? (To emphasize perseverance you hope they will talk about how they will have to work for as long as it takes to help move the family's belongings.)

Dilemma # 7A

(Faith, Empathy, Golden Rule)

Someone that you care about is sick and you are lying in bed or sitting in school worrying about them. What can help you to feel better? (You hope they will think about praying for them, trusting that it will be ok no matter what, doing things to help that person, or show them that they care.)

Dilemma # 7B

(Faith, Courage, Perseverance, Inner voice)

You aren't chosen for the part in the school play that you wanted or for the sports team you wanted to be on. How do you help yourself to feel better? (You hope they can talk about asking for help from others to feel better, having faith that everything will be ok for them in the long run, having the courage and perseverance not to give up trying, using their inner voice to comfort self.)

Dilemma #7C

(Faith (in friendship, in the highest good), Inner voice, Responsibility, Courage)

Your best friend has gone to play in the river even though you have both been forbidden by your parents to play in the river without adult supervision. Your friend has threatened never to talk to you again if you tell your parents. What would you do?

Dilemma # 8

(Fairness, Empathy, Inner voice, Golden Rule, Generosity, Welcoming)

On Valentines' Day you notice that some kids get a ton of valentines and candy and some got none or almost none. How could this holiday be made fairer for all kids?

Dilemma # 9

(Balance, Non-Violence, Respect)

You are helping your grandparents in the garden when your little brother or sister sees a worm and wants to squish it. Your grandmother tells you both that worms make tunnels and eat the soil to make more oxygen and nutrients for the plants. Can you make up a story that helps your little brother or sister see that worms are important? The teacher can start it by saying, "One day the Mayor of Garden land thought that worms looked yucky and ordered that they be taken out of every garden in the land. What would happen to Garden land?" (You are hoping to talk with them about balance, though nonviolence is obviously important. You hope they will talk about how the plants wouldn't grow and the birds wouldn't have any food and would stop singing, etc.)

Dilemma #10

(Respect, Golden Rule, Empathy, Welcoming, Cooperation, Forgiveness, Courage, Balance)

There is a boy in your class who gets teased because he likes to draw unicorns more than anything. What traits would you use to remind yourself and others that everyone has a right to be who they are and do what they want to do?

Dilemma #11

(Inner Voice, Empathy, Responsibility, Non-violence, Respect)

You find a month's worth of lunch tickets on the floor in the bathroom. How do you decide whether to keep them or turn it in to the teacher? (You hope they will talk about listening to their conscience or inner voice to let them know that they would not be being honest if they kept them and that someone else would suffer as a result of it.)

Dilemma #12

(Responsibility, Golden Rule, Respect, Interdependence, Inner voice, Non-violence)

Some kids at recess are whispering a mean story about someone else. They tell you the story and say, "Pass it on." What should you do, and why? (You hope they will talk about how even if they didn't start it, it is their responsibility for not passing it on and for telling the other kids that it is a mean way to act.)

Dilemma #13

(Interdependence, Generosity, Empathy, Golden Rule)

You hear that many trees are being cut down in the Amazon Rain Forest to make more grazing ground for cattle so that people can eat more meat. What idea helps you to question how it will hurt the earth, animals and people to cut down so many trees? (You hope they will talk about how we are dependent on the trees because they make oxygen, and are homes for animals.)

Dilemma #14

(Welcoming, Cooperation, Golden Rule, Empathy, Generosity)

A new child is coming to your class in a few days and your teacher asks you to think of ways to help the child feel welcomed and comfortable. What can you do by yourself? What could you do as a group? (You hope they will think about making and doing things that help the child to feel welcomed and accepted. Examples could be welcome posters, volunteering to show them around or be their buddy for a day or to each with you at lunch.)

Dilemma #15

(Cooperation, Golden Rule, Respect)

You and your friends are trying to decide what game to play at recess, but people can't agree. It seems that everyone is talking at once and no one is listening. What can you do to help make it so that everyone feels that they get a turn to choose the game? (You hope they will talk about and demonstrate cooperation in which people take turns deciding and listening to one another.)