“All mankind are the fruits of one tree, flowers of the same garden,
waves of one sea.” ~ Abdu’l – Baha
Welcome to Virtue Wednesday. Today’s Virtue is Unity.
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When we talk about Unity, first thing that comes to mind is working together, living together, doing things together in harmony. Unity is pretty much about treating everyone as equal and never looking down on anyone for any reason.
This is what we teach our daughters and this is what we teach to our students. We talk about Unity of people, races, nationalities. We give examples of how it all works so much better when people unite their efforts and combine their ideas. And the best of all, it all works out better when everyone respects one another and thinks of others as a part of one whole.
So, how can we teach unity at home and in a classroom? Here are some ideas:
1. An example of the body: take a doll with removable body parts and ask the child to name all the visible body parts (arms, legs, head, toes, feet, hands etc). Now ask the child whether it is important to have eyes (talk about the nature of each body part – what is it for?). Then remove one arm and ask the child what happened now and how the doll will be feeling now. Going step by step, explain that the same is for all of us: we are like one body in our family. If we don’t listen to each other, if we fight we one another, it is like we lose an arm or a leg, or even eyes. We lose the ability to move better, to see better. Always emphasize the words “unity”, “united”, “together”.
2. We talk about the nature and how everything is connected in it: trees, flowers, animals, birds. For example, how we wouldn’t have such beautiful plants, vegetables and fruit if the bees weren’t pollinating them and the rain and the earth wouldn’t nourish them. And the earth wouldn’t be so good if the worms and insects weren’t living in it.
3. Make the Lantern of Unity. This is a very simple task for a child to do:
– Take a piece of any color paper, fold in half.
– Cut one strip.
– Now cut or tear the paper from the point where it is folded towards the edges,
leaving some space.
– Open the paper and fold it into a lantern.
– Glue the ends together.
– Glue the strip to make a handle.
– You can also prepare small pictures with faces of people from all over the world
and glue them on the lantern.
This activity is also great to teach about different races and countries. Instead of faces, they can be flags of different countries.
4. We learn and sing the Hawaii Unity Song. Here’s the version from Family Learning House.
Teaching Unity is not something we do once and forget about it. It is a part of our life and as our children grow, we guide them and explain them more about Unity, Unity in Diversity and all other wonderful Virtues that help them to grow into decent human beings.
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How do you teach your children about Unity? Share with me – I’d love to know about it!
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