Martin Luther King Jr. Day Collages

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day,  the kids and I focused on how God makes people in all colors shapes and sizes and loves them all very much.  First we read the story of the Good Samaritan from Luke 10.  Then we read the picture book, Martin's Big Words, which the kids found very engaging.  To wrap it all up, we made collages to showcase God's creative diversity.

This project was definitely more about process than product.

As the kids looked through magazines for pictures of people, we talked about all the ways we look different:  different hair, different eyes, different muscles, different height, different skin, different noses.  I kept tying it all together with the ideas that  . . .

• God is so creative to have made people who are different in so many wonderful ways.
• He loves all of us.
• He wants us all to love each other. 

The next morning, Big Brother was looking at a picture book with mice characters.  "Look Mama," he said, "this mouse is yellow, this one is white, and this one is blue."  

"Yes," I agreed, "God is pretty creative even with mice.  Isn't that great!"  

Inside I was cringing, hoping that a) the Nurture Shock recommendation to talk openly about difference was on target and that b) Big Brother would not go to preschool and start pointing out all the differences among his very diverse classmates.  

As I took note of coverage of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I saw a lot of emphasis on peace and non-violence.  It occurred to me that perhaps next year, our focus will be on the Biblical principal of turning the other cheek rather than focusing on diversity. Given our never-ending issues with sibling squabbles, lessons in non-violent-cheek-turning would certainly not be amiss.