The basic ideas for the next 5 lessons come from Gary Chapman’s books on the 5 love Languages. There is a book for married couples and about children.
I have taken his principles and turned them into lessons to teach the children how to express love in 5 main ways. I highly recommend these books.
Another
excellent book is by Ross Campbell “How to really love your child.” He actually
helped Gary
Scripture: for teacher background: Genesis 29:13 (Uncle Laban greeting Jacob
with a big hug!)
Daniel 10:16-18 (Daniel is strengthened and hugged by an angel.)
Mark 10:13-16 Jesus put children on His knee and blessed them. Romans 16:16 “Greet
one another with a brotherly hug.”
Making contact:
Get the children to make a tight circle holding hands and to
pass a hand squeeze around. You must try and guess where the squeeze is.
Teach them another hand squeeze game. You squeeze someone’s hand
4 times. This stand for “Do you love me?” The other person replies with 3
squeezes: “Yes I do.” Then 2 squeezes asks: “How much?”
And one very, very hard squeeze tells the person just how
much!
Exploration:
One day there was an experiment carried out in a hospital.
The babies were divided into 2 groups. One group got lots and lots of hugs and
kisses from all the nurses and family. The other children were never picked up,
hugged or touched for a few days.
The results were amazing! The children who
were loved and hugged really thrived well and the other children were whining
and not happy and not putting on weight.
We all need lots of hugs. The boys might prefer rough and
tumble kind of love and feel it’s a bit sissy to hug. A good wresting match on
the carpet with dad is as good as a hug.
There was a survey done once and the results showed that
husbands whose wives kissed them goodbye every morning before they went to work
lived longer, had fewer accidents and earned more money.
Jesus knew that people needed to be touched. Remember when
we learnt about the leper? No one would even go near let alone touch a leper,
but Jesus did.
One day some mommies wanted to bring their children to
Jesus. The disciples started shooing them away, but Jesus called them and told
them to let the children come. They climbed up onto His lap and He blessed
them.
Now we also have to be careful of bad touch from bad people.
We must never let anyone touch us where we don’t want them to touch us, even if
they want to pay us in money or sweets.
Never must anyone touch our private
parts. Only married people can do that when they have sex. The Bible is very
clear about that.
Sex is the main way HIV and Aids is spread other than when
infected blood gets in a cut or through an injection needle.
Rape is when
someone forces private parts to go inside someone’s private parts and if they
are infected they will probably get Aids.
So we have to be very careful and we have to trust the
people who hug us. There have been nice school teachers even who have taken
children home and done things to them.
Remember not to be alone with people
like this. Always stay with the others.
Unfortunately some kind “uncles” have done some bad stuff to
some children and if that ever happens you must tell someone.
Don’t grow up
with that awful secret. You might need medicine and you need someone to pray
with you.
Other bad touching is hitting, bullying, pinching, slapping.
A little tip I learnt from my doctor is not to kiss people
on the mouth unless they are family. That just prevents colds and sniffs from
spreading.
The Bible talks about a brotherly hug. This is like the people in
some other countries do – a hug where your cheeks touch, or just kiss the
cheek.
If your mommy’s friend says “Come and give me a kiss!” rather just peck
her on the cheek. It is healthier. As for the deep kissing with the tongue –
save that for marriage.
(Teachers – you need to work out how much of this discussion
to do, based on the age etc of your group. You need to be very sensitive with
this, but it really does need to be addressed by the church. Don’t leave only
the schools to do this. They are not using the Bible as their standard.)
Application
We all need good touching and just because some people do
bad touching doesn’t mean we can’t touch anyone anymore.
A good, friendly hug
is healthy. Someone said we need 8 hugs a day!
Now especially at home – your mom and dad need a lot of hugs
and so do you. I know, as you get bigger you don’t want your mom to hug you in
front of your friends. Just ask her nicely if you can rather just hug at home
because your friends are silly and jealous!
Our family had a group hug before school every morning!
Remember that little babies need much more than 8 hugs a day
– they need lots and lots more!
Challenge to Mission
There are many orphans in the world. Some churches
and individuals have started homes for them. They need help, because one worker
hasn’t got time to hold each baby. Maybe you could visit one of these homes and
just play with the babies or give them their bottle. Ask your minister where
you could help.
Maybe a visit could be arranged by the teacher for the
Sunday school to visit and do some good touching.
Consolidation
There is a worksheet with place to draw a hand. In each
finger the children can write the letters of the name JESUS. A picture of Jesus
with some children can be coloured in.
Memory Verse
“Then He took the children in His arms, placed His hands on
each of them and blessed them.” Mark 10:16
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