Tag: self respect

A story about the importance of keeping your good name. (for children 10 -14 yrs)

2 Comments

Proverbs 22:1  A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.

A story about the importance of keeping your good name.

I have two sisters. One is ten, the other is eleven.  I was born five years before they came along.  My friends don’t pay much attention to my sisters.  They call them ‘the kids’, but I have had to look after them quite a lot when they were young and I want to make sure they are OK when they become teenagers.  Things can go wrong when you leave primary school and start your secondary education in a huge school with one or even two thousand pupils.

My younger sister Megan is the one I worry about the most.  She is always trying to look older and be older than she really is.  Tash, the other one is content to be her age.

Megan likes to hang around with the lads up at the park.  Some of them are OK – most of them are really, but one or two I wouldn’t trust for a minute.  They are always boasting about what they have done or what they are going to do, and it’s all lies.  Megan comes home and tells us all about it.  My mum gets cross and tells me I should be looking out for my sister.  Well, I can’t be there all the time, can I?  The park is just next door and Mum doesn’t really want to stop Megan from going out.  She tries to get Tash to keep Megan company, and Tash does go out too, but not so much.  She likes reading and doing her Karaoke at home.  She says she doesn’t like the park gang and she thinks they are stupid.

Will they give her a bad name?

“I don’t want everyone to think I’m like one of them, ’cos I’m not.  I don’t go bragging about stupid things and smoking and drinking fizz and saying it’s alcohol.”

“They aren’t all like that,” said Megan, “Only Nico, you know, Nicotine Nigel, he’s the only one.”

“Well maybe so, but the others just hang around and gossip about each other.  I don’t want to do that.  Before you know it they’ll be gossiping about you.” said Tash.

“No they won’t.  Why should they?  I haven’t done anything.”

“ Maybe not, but people who gossip often make up stories about others if they have nothing better to do.”

“Well no one would believe them.  They can’t just lie about someone, Well , except for Nico, he’d lie about anyone.” said Megan.

“What about your friend Simon?  I hear he stole some sweets from the supermarket!”

Megan went white, then red.  She didn’t know what to say.  She liked Simon and she trusted him.  Now here was Tash telling her that Simon was a thief, and she believed her sister.

“Don’t worry, Meg, I just made that up to see what you would think.  You believed me didn’t you?”

“Well, you don’t tell lies, that’s why I believed you.  You shouldn’t say that about Simon, it’s not true.”

“That’s right, said Tash,” I’m just showing you what some people are like when they gossip.  They make up stories about people that others might believe, then Simon, or someone like him gets a bad name.”

“Oh, that’s not fair is it?  I wouldn’t do that!”

“Well just be careful who you hang about with or you might get a bad name too, and you wouldn’t want that would you?

Questions

What does ‘having a good name’ mean to you?

What does ‘having a bad name’ mean to you?

What might happen if someone had a bad name?

How can you  keep your good name?

Does the story remind you of anything in your life?

Good to be me. A story for children 9-11 years old

4 Comments

ERIC at school in Africa

 

Eric walked along the dusty track, a stick in his hand.  He was pushing a ball along in front of him, using the bent and gnarled piece of wood. His
movements were quick and deft. He was in control of the ball. His bare feet moved steadily, avoiding any sharp obstacles along the way. If the ball hit a stone and bounced to one side, he quickly drew it back in front of him, rolling it along the track. He had some hard thinking to do.

Eric’s African life was tough compared to many children in the world. He was eleven years of age and was lucky enough to go to school. Many of the children in his area did not get an education. Eric thought that he was fortunate. He decided to make the most of his life. He was wise for his years.

As he was the eldest boy in his family and his mother and father were both dead, he felt responsible for the care of his brothers and sisters. His grandmother looked after the family, but she could not do everything. The children had to help themselves and each other, or the family would not survive. Luckily they had a piece of ground large enough to grow  food to feed them all, as long as there was rain to water the crops. There was little time for play. Even the small ones had jobs to do to help their grandma prepare their food, or looking after the few animals that they kept.

Eric’s sister, Tete, helped to grind the maize to make mealy meal. This is the porridge that was their main food every day. They could have eggs once a week. The extra eggs were sold to help to pay for Eric’s schooling.

Tete and the twins, who were only six, did all sorts of little jobs for grandma. She wasn’t very strong herself, but she could tell the children what to do and show them how to do it, and somehow the family got by. They were very proud of Eric. He would be the one who would be able to earn money for the family because he was going to school.  His class was held underneath a canopy on a verandah next to the school house. Another class took lessons inside the school. There were fifty children under the canopy, all trying hard to learn to read and write. The teacher was very good. He told them interesting stories and made them laugh. He was also very strict. There were very few books in the school, and hardly any paper and pencils. All the work was done on slates which were scraped with soft stones to make letters or numbers. Then they were wiped with a damp cloth to erase the work.

Eric could read and write better than anybody in his class. He found he was very good with number work too. He had a quick mind. One of the teachers said she  would like Eric to help in the market on a Saturday. She promised to pay him well so that he could help his family to buy clothes.

Eric went home to tell his grandmother what the teacher had asked him to do. Grandmother looked sad. “Who will hoe the ground and plant the maize seeds if you are away all week at school, and on Saturdays too? You know your sisters are not strong enough to lift the hoe. Your teacher does not realise that we must have food before we can think about new clothes.”

Eric was angry and upset. He had been very pleased when the teacher had asked him to work at the market. Now his grandma was refusing to let him go. He needed to have a long think about the situation. He picked up his gnarled old stick and his ball and, keeping it carefully under his control, he went to the river bank.

Eric sat on a log. He could hear the hippos grunting and grumbling in the distance. He picked up a stone and flung it as hard as he could across the water. It bounced sixteen times. That was a record for him. Suddenly his anger melted away. He realised that it was good to be wanted and needed. It was good that he could help his family and there would be time enough for earning money when his brothers and sisters were able to do the kind of work that he had to do now. He loved his family and did not want them to go hungry just because he wanted to work at the market. After all, he was top of the class. When he was old enough he would get a much better job altogether.

Eric walked home as the sun began to set. His bad temper had gone and he felt contented with his life. He decided to apologise to his grandma for being thoughtless and rude and to tell her he loved her for taking care of all of them.

 

QUESTIONS:

 

1.    How did you feel when you heard this story?

2.    Did it remind you of anything in your own life?

3.    What kind of a person do you think Eric was?

4.    How did his brothers and sisters help the family?

5.    In Africa there are many schools like Eric’s. How do you think the teacher would deal with bad behaviour, such as bullying, in a class of 50 pupils?

6.    How did Eric control his temper?

7.    What do you do if you are angry?

8.    Eric was contented with his life. Are you contented with your life?