I'm part of a Live Laugh Love Group that gets together once a month to put together 2 Family Home Evening Lessons, visuals for a song (that we practice all month), and a monthly activity to work on with our families based on a theme. This coming month of October is Honesty. For this monthly's activity we are working on teaching the kids that they can be honest about their feelings as long as it is respectful and constructive.
We each have an empty pumpkin patch that we start the month with. If a family member is happy or sad because of something another family member did, they give or place a pumpkin in the pumpkin patch of that family member. As the month progresses happy and sad pumpkins are added to the patch. Some families keep all the pumpkins there all month. We count the pumpkins each Sunday talking about how many sad and happy pumpkins there are. For the number of happy pumpkins we have we put a corresponding number of candy pumpkins in a jar. When the jar is full we spend a special movie night together as a family with pizza, pop, a treat and everyone in pajamas. We usually grab our pillows and blankets for this as well. (Our four year old LOVES this.)
This will be the second year we have done it and I thought it went very well last year. As a parent you become aware of how much negative versus positive praise you are giving. The kids learn that if they are mad or upset with a parent or sibling they have a positive way to express it. We had one group member last year who's little daughter (age 4) gave Dad a sad pumpkin because she was upset with Dad. When Dad found out they were able to sit and talk about why she was upset. This same member will also always remember how happy it made her feel when her Hubby left her a happy pumpkin for making him breakfast before work. If your up to the challenge that comes with trying to express to a young child how their actions make you, as an adult, feel then try your own pumpkin patch this October.
