One morning, Maria didn’t get up right away when her mother called her. Finally her mother came in shouting, “Hey, lazyhead, will you get going!” (Rip) She got up and put on some of her favorite clothes. However, her older sister came into the room and said, “Are you going to wear those rags to school?” (Rip)
She decided to ignore her sister’s remark and went on to fix her hair in a new style. But when she went to breakfast, her father opened his eyes wide and asked, “What on earth have you done to your hair? It looks like a rat’s nest.” (Rip) She helps herself to some cereal, the last serving in the box. Her brother, who wanted a second bowl, complained that she always takes the most food and never leaves any for him. (Rip)
Maria was now really late for school. She grabbed up the math homework she had spent hours on the night before and raced off for school with the papers in her hand. As she was hurrying along, she stumbled and lost her balance. The math homework slipped out of her hands, and a wind came along that blew the papers along the street and into dirty rain puddles. A sour-faced woman who was walking along and saw what happened, said, “It serves you right, girlie. Why don’t you walk like a lady?” (Rip)
When she got to class, her teacher had already begun checking the math homework with the class. When she learned Maria didn’t have her homework, she said, “Maria, you’ve got to start doing better than this. You won’t get promoted if you don’t keep up with your homework. I’m going to have to speak to your parents about your laziness.” (Rip)
At lunch time, Maria went to the lunchroom and got something to eat. But as she carried her tray across the room to a table, someone stuck out a foot, she tripped, and her lunch spilled all over the floor. (Rip) Then people laughed because she got mad. (Rip)
On the way home from school, Maria stopped in the corner grocery store and bought a box of cupcakes. “You better watch that stuff, honey,” the counterman said. “You keep eating that and you’ll soon weigh a ton.” (Rip)
We have a few of those kids books and love them still.
Kindness is paramount to daily living!
I love this post so much! We can all stand to place more focus on kindness these days, and teaching it to the youth is so important!
Thanks, Kendra! Yes, I completely agree!! I’m glad these books can assist all adults in teaching and being role models for kindness.
What a fabulous post! I love the book suggestions and the story about Maria! Kindness is such an important concept to instill in our children.
Thanks!! The Maria story is very powerful. The kids feel her pain during the lesson and are eager to be kind and help her feel better.
Maria’s Story is an excellent way to teach the concept of kindness.
Love these book selections, we have been focusing more on kindness and ways to show it at home this week.
That’s a great family focus. Teaching this concept at home will flow over into their real lives AND your children will be able to help others see and use compassion, too.
Awesome lessons here! Kindness is so important and not given the time of day by some people.
Yes, and you are unfortunately true about spreading kindness.
I love teaching lessons with children’s books. I would love it if all of us adults would listen and learn. I guess all we can do is it starts with us. Set an example and hopefully, it spread like wildfire.
I agree!! There is so much to learn from children’s perspective.