“A soft answer turneth away wrath; but grievous words stir up anger.” Proverbs 15:1

In the blink of an eye, a simple game of pretend can turn into name calling and bickering.  How many fights and mean words could be avoided if only we could communicate our feelings in a quiet, gentle manner.  How do we make this our first response?

I pondered on how I could teach the lesson of gentleness & soft words — not only to myself, but also to my children.  How could we write this lesson upon our hearts?

I don’t know about you — but I often go to sleep thinking about all my angry mean outburst mommy moments that I had during the day.  I can see my bad habits rubbing off onto my children too — they get so frustrated with each other so easily.

Solomon in all his wisdom must have know about the old saying, “it takes two to argue.”  He said a soft answer would turn away someone’s anger, but harsh words would just stir it up.  This is so true — I argue with my 5 year old so much!  How many battles we would avoid if we would just approach the situation differently.

I’m so glad that God is working on changing my speech & attitude, especially when I am frustrated!  Which I might add is quite the challenge because of my anxiety & PTSD.  I feel the most challenged when my children are not listening!

Here is a fun activity to help teach your children Proverbs 15:1

First, give your children a piece of sandpaper & have them rub it onto their arms.  Ask them, “How does that feel?  Do you want others to rub you with sandpaper?” —  Explain to your children how our anger is like sandpaper.   When we speak out of anger, it feels like sandpaper to others.  Nobody wants to be treated that way!

Next, give your children some cotton-balls.  Let them rub the cotton-balls onto each others skin.  Explain to them that the cotton-balls are like our kind words — they feel good to others.

Read the bible verse to your children again.  Let them know that the bible verse tells us that when someone rubs us with sandpaper, we can rub them with cotton-balls to  turn away their anger.

End the project by putting glue on the sandpaper, and placing the cotton-balls on top.  Let them know that this symbolizes us taking kind words and turning away anger.

Here is a fun song to sing to help remember the verse.  (sing it to “Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush”)

A soft answer turns away wrath

turns away wrath

turns away wrath

A soft answer turns away wrath

Proverbs 15:1

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As always, thanks for reading!  Let me know in the comments what you thought about this object lesson & don’t forget to share with your friends!

Have a blessed day!