Children’s Sunday School curriculum primarily consists of happy, joyful stories. There are obvious age-appropriate reasons for many of the choices that publishers, teachers and parents make about how to present Bible stories to children. And we do want children to know that Jesus loves them and this is indeed cause for joy. However, children (and youth and adults, too) benefit from acknowledgement that God has given humans the capacity to experience a wide range of emotion.
Lent is a good time to focus on feelings with your children. The stories of Holy Week encompass deep sadness and great joy and many emotions in between. A children’s book on feelings can be an excellent discussion starter. Two I recommend are: A to Z: Do You Ever Feel Like Me by Bonnie Hausman and Sandi Fellman and Today I Feel Silly & Other Moods That Make My Day by Jamie Lee Curtis. Often children cannot express what they are feeling because they don’t know how to describe it. Both of these books will help children increase their vocabulary of feeling words.
Having the words to describe feelings enables children to express themselves more clearly and also helps them relate to how others are feeling. Discuss feelings in a straightforward manner accompanied by a reassurance that sometimes we do feel sad, angry, confused or jealous as well as excited, silly or happy. Convey the message that although we do not have control over feelings (they just are) we can make choices about how we respond to them, particularly those feelings which are often considered negative such as anger.
Tie your discussion of feelings in with the lessons during Lent and Holy Week by asking children to imagine how different people in the stories are feeling. After all, as joyful as Jesus’ resurrection is, it would mean nothing without the sadness and grief associated his crucifixion.
~Sally Hoelscher
Here's a snack idea to accompany a discussion on feelings - Bagel Faces!