Juliette Garesché Dages - Learning about Virtues: A Guide to Making Good Decisions

It helps children to recognize and label the behaviors which they are striving to develop. God, the source of infinite goodness and love, beckons us to learn about virtues, to become virtuous. Be holy, for I, the Lord, your God, am holy, Scripture tells us. (Leviticus 19:2) Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. (Philippians 4:8) These good things are in each of us, since we are created in Gods image; but, we must exercise our will in putting them to work in our lives. In other words, we must make the choice to be virtuous, to do what is right in Gods eyes.

This requires faith, knowledge, practice, hard work, and commitment. Young children are likely to attain one virtue at a time. The more mature the individual, the more discipline he or she may exercise in choosing words or deeds that exemplify the virtues they have learned. When a child attains a virtue, that trait will become almost habitual for them. It isnt always easy. Life produces many challenges, and todays culture often seems to oppose virtue.

However, through faith, humanitys best traits are revealed when responding to a challenging situation. Virtuous people know what Scripture confirms: Suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character. (Romans 5:3-4) Through a lifetime of meeting such challenges, practicing virtue, and building character, a child grows through adulthood, planting more seeds of Gods goodness along the way. We hope you have fun introducing virtues to the children in your life. This book is just the start. Be creative, and dont forget to catch your children being good! Praise their every effort toward goodness and God-likeness.

Juliette Garesch Dages Honest H ector is honest . H ector was hitting baseballs when a foul ball broke a neighbors window. Hector felt horrible. He didnt want to admit he had broken the window, but he knew it was the right thing to do. H ector worked up the courage to ring the neighbors doorbell. When his neighbor came to the door, Hector explained what happened, and apologized.

To pay for the window, Hector agreed to rake leaves for his neighbor. H ector was honest, even though he was worried about what might happen. Hector had to pay for the damage, but his conscience was clear because he told the truth. W hat is one way you can practice being honest ? Responsible R eynaldo is responsible . A s a young boy, Reynaldo had many friends in school. As he got older, some of his friends began getting into trouble.

Sometimes, the boys dared one another to do thingsusually things the boys knew were wrong, or things for which they knew their parents would disapprove. R eynaldo was responsible and had a good sense of right and wrong. He was able to make good choices, and to select friends and have fun without breaking rules. Reynaldo and his friends had harmless fun and were sometimes downright silly, but didnt get into serious trouble. W hat is one way you can practice being responsible ? Just J illian is just . J illian went to watch her little sister play soccer.

The players and coaches were there, but the referee didnt show up. The coaches asked Jillian if she would referee the game, and she agreed. W hen Jillian had to make a decision about which team hit the ball out of bounds, or if a player had used her hands, she had to be fair. She could not give any preference to her sisters team. Jillian was just and fair in making her decisions. She treated both teams equally.

W hat is one way you can practice being just ? Courageous C arl is courageous . C arl was at the park with his friend Cody. A bigger boy came over and began to tease and then push Cody. C arl stayed at Codys side and told the bigger boy to leave his friend alone. When the boy threatened to beat up Carl, he called to other children at the park to help him. W hen five children faced the boy, he said something mean and walked away.

Carl was courageous because he continued to do the right thing even when it was difficult or scary. W hat is one way you can practice being courageous ? Self-Controlled S uzanne is self-controlled . S uzanne was enjoying the playground swing during recess. Suddenly, a boy pushed her so hard she fell out of the swing. Though surprised, Suzanne stood up and asked the boy why he had done that. The boy said he was sorry, and explained that he had thought she was his sister, Sadie, who liked to be pushed high on the swing.

T he boy pointed out his sister, and from the back she did look like Suzanne. Suzanne was self-controlled because instead of getting angry, she asked the boy to explain his action. The boy introduced Suzanne to Sadie. They laughed about the mistake, and became good friends. W hat is one way you can practice being self-controlled ?